Srom  f^e  £i6rari>  of 

(ptofcBBox  ^amud  (gtiffer 

in  (pernor)?  of 

3ubge  ^amuef  (gXiffer  QSrecftinrtbge 

(presented  fig 

^antuef  (tttiffer  Q0recfttnr%e  feon^ 

fo  f ^e  feifirarg  of 

(Princeton  C^eofogicctf  ^emtnarj? 

Sec. 


I 


COMPREHENSIVE  VIEW 

OF   THE 

LEADING   AND  MOST  IMPORTANT  PRINCIPLES 

OF 

NATURAL  AND  REVEALED 
RELIGION : 

DIGESTED  IN  SUCH  ORDER  AS  TO  PRESENT  TO  THE  PIOUS  AND  RKFLECnNB 

MIND,  A  BASIS  FOR  THE  SUPERSTRUCTLRE  OF  THE  ENTIRE 

8V3TSM  OF  THE  DOCTRINES  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 


V^ 


BY  THE  REV.  SAMUEL  STANHOPE  SMITH,  D.D.  L.L.D. 

hATS  PBESIOENT  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  NHW-JERSET. 


NEW-BRUNSWICK  : 
Printed  and  Published  by  Deare  it  Myet. 

1815. 


District  0/  New-Jersey,  ss. 

jKe  it  remembered,  that  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  Aagust,  ia 
the  fortietii  year  of  the  Indeperideuce  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
Deare  &  Myer,  of  tiie  said  district,  hme  deposited  in  this  office,  the  title  of  a 
book,  the  right  whereof  Uiey  ciaim  as  proprietors,  in  '  hewoids  following,  to  wit; 

"  A  Comprehensive  '^.'ie'v  of  the  leadi.ig  and  most  important  principles  of  Na- 
"  tural  ard  Revealed  Religion,  digested  in  such  order  as  to  present  to  the  pious 
"  and  reflectin:;  mind,  a  bssis  for  the  superstructure  of  the  entire  system  of  the 
*'  doctrines  o(  the  Gospel.  By  the  Rev.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  D.D.  L.L.D. 
"  late  Pre>ident  of  the  Tollege  o''NeT-  •  Je'S'^y." 

In  conformity  to  a.i  act  of  the  Congresa  of  ihe  United  States,  entitled,  "  An 
act  for  the  cncouragenaent  ut'  lea'-ning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps,  charts, 
and  books,  to  the  auth:*!;  ant!  /ropiietort  oi  such  copies,  during  the  times 
tlierein  mer.fioned  ;"  and  <t1po  to  the  act,  entitled,  "An  act  supplementary  to 
the  act,  entitled  in  act  for  ihe  encou'a^e'.np.it  of  learning,  by  securing  the  cop- 
ies of  inaps,  <  iiarts  a"d  hookt-,  to  t;ie  aathors  v.rA  proprietors  of  sucli  copies,  during 
the  thues  therein  mei.tioned,  aud  extending  thr  hi^nefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  de- 
signing, engraving  and  etching,  historical  and  omer  prints." 

ROBERT  BOGGS, 
Ckrk  of  the  District  of  Nav- Jersey. 


PRELIMINAEY  NOTICES 

AND 

REFLECTIONS. 


J\  O  doubt  can  exist  In  the  mind  of  a  judicious  christian,  but  that  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  comprise  the  most  complete  development  of  the  entire  system  of  our 
holy  religion.  But  the  extent  and  variety  of  information  which  they  embrace, 
the  loose  and  narrative  style  in  which  a  great  portion  of  thera  is  written,  and  the 
picturesque  and  poetic  imagery  in  which  others  are  clothed,  have  presented  aa 
occasion  both  to  ingenious  and  to  feeble  minded  men,  to  build  upon  thera  a  multitude 
Qf  contending  opinions,  each  supported  by  detached  expressions  collected  from 
these  divine  oracles,  or  by  interpretations,  either  plausible  or  forced,  imposed 
upon  their  language.  Divines,  in  order  to  correct  or  restrain  this  ambiguous 
diversity  of  sentiment,  have  endea\{oured  to  reduce  the  whole  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  sacred  writings  to  certain  definite  principles,  arranged  in  scientific  order,  so 
as  mutually  to  illustrate  and  support  one  another.  Tliis  would  have  been  a  scheme 
sufficiently  rational,  if  system  writers  had  confined  their  object  to  digesting  the 
diffusive  and  expanded  jihraseology  of  the  scriptures  into  a  few  sir/jple  and  con- 
nected propositions,  intended  to  present  the  substance  of  the  whole  to  the  mind, 
under  one  view.  But  their  design  has  become  so  mingled  with  the  discordant 
theories  of  different  writers,  that  iheir  extended  discussions  on  each  topic,  have 
often  destroyed  the  simplicity  of  tlie  gospel,  and  led  their  readers,  as  well  as 
disposed  the  writers  themselves,  to  substitute  human  reason  for  the  word  of  God. 
Instead  of  presenting  a  brief  analysis  of  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  Bible,  they 
have  too  frequently  attempted  to  make  their  respective  explanations  of  the  system 
of  divine  truth  an  entire  library  of  tlieoiogical  science  :— It  has  occurred  to 
the  autlior  that  it  would  be  desirable  to  students  in  that  sphere  of  knowledge, 
to  have  its  principal  subjects  distinctly  pointed  out,  and  clearly  illustrated,  in  a 
short  compass,  in  order  to  direct  their  future  inquiries,  and  so  to  guard  their  fu- 
ture addresses  from  the  pulpit,  from  blending  discordant  opinions  j  that  they 
should,  in  no  point,  err  against  the  general  system  of  evangelic  truth.  He 
further  lioped  that  such  a  compendious  view  might  usefully  aid  the  private  chris- 
tian, in  examining  the  sacred  scriptures,  and  pursuing  throughout  the  whole,  the 
connected  thread  of  christian  doctrine. 

Tliesearethe  objects  to  which  his  attention  has  been  chiefly  directed  in  the  fol- 
Jowiug  discourses  designed  to  embrace  a  very  compendious  scheme  of  the  leading 


IV 

principles  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Theology.  This  design  very  early  occupied 
his  mind,  while  pursuing  his  own  studies  under  the  superintendence  of  that  eminent 
and  learned  divine,  the  late  Rev  Dr.  Witherspoon.  At  the  request  of  a  number 
of  young  men,  in  the  year  1772,  graduates  of  the  college,  at  that  time  residing  in 
the  institution  for  the  prosecution  of  their  theological  studies,  of  whom  the  author 
was  one,  the  doctor  was  prevailed  on  to  commence  a  course  of  lectures  on  this 
subject,  which  he  continued  once  a  week  till  the  •  '.lUiP'n  of  1773,  when  difiFerent 
objects  of  pursuit  in  life  attracting  the  greater  portion  of  the  class,  it  was  of  course 
dissolved.  The  doctor  had  proceeded  in  his  course,  intermixing  his  lectures  with 
much  extempore  illustration,  as  far  as  to  the  Covenant  of  Grace.  The  clear  method 
which  he  pursued  is,  on  many  subjects,  particularly  the  Trinity  and  the  CoveiMntSf 
in  many  of  its  outlines,  adopted.  The  author  acknowledges  with  pride,  the  assist- 
ance derived  from  notes,  taken  at  that  time  from  tlie  mouth  of  the  speaker.  Of 
tliese  lectures  the  most  copious  abridgement,  whicli  was,  or  probably  could  be  made 
by  any  geutlem^m  not  acquainted  with  the  art  of  stenography,  has  been  published 
by  the  editor  of  Dr.  Withr^rspoon's  Torks,  though  with  much  imperfection,  as  was 
naturally  to  be  expected.  And,  if  the  venerable  man  had  lived,  he  would  proba- 
bly, have  been  little  pleased  in  seeing  this,  and  several  other  mutilated  produc- 
tions of  his  pen,  accompanying  his  more  perfect  works.*  It  is  greatly  to  be  lament- 
ed, that  many  circumstances,  after  the  design  was  commenced,  concurred  to  pre- 
vent its  execution.  The  judicious  reader  who  is  best  acquainted  with  Dr.  Wither- 
Bpooo's  nianner,  will  probably  6nd  little  affinity  in  these  discourses,  with  his 
writings ;  yet  the  author  is  not  conscious  that  they  contain  opinions,  on  any  princi- 
ples of  religion,  materially  varying;  from  those  which  that  great  man  was  known 
to  adopt.  Any  coincidences  of  sentiment  in  the  subjects  treated  by  us  in  common, 
may  easily  dp  traced,  i.*  any  person  have  the  curiosity,  by  comparing  these  dis- 
courses with  that  abridgment  Di-ersity  in  the  manner  of  proposing  them  to  the 
world,  ought  to  be  expected,  even  in  a  pupil  who  admires  his  master. 

It  is  his  earnest  prayer  that  the  following  pages  may  contribute  in  any  degree 
to  elucidate  the  doctrines  of  the  holy  scriptures,  not  to  the  learned  only,  but  to  the 
humblest  christian,  forwiiich,  being  freed,  as  much  as  possible,  from  all  metaphysi- 
cal discussion,  he  hopes  they  will  be  found  to  be  usefully  adapted. 


*  Daring  his  life  a  printer  in  New -Jersey  was  commencing  an  edition  of  his  Moral 

Philosophy  in  its  present  imperfect  state.  He  was  arrested  in  its  progress,  by  be- 
ing threatened  with  a  legal  prosecution.  This  event,  caused  the  doctor  a  year  or 
two  before  his  deatli,  to  direct  the  burning  of  a  very  large  number  of  his  mana- 
icripts  by  his  late  wife,  he  himself  being  blind.  His  Moral  Philosophy,  and  Lec- 
tures on  Criticism,  would  probably  have  shared  the  same  fate  if  many  copies  oS 
both  had  not  been  preserved  by  his  students.    They  were  used  merely  as  texts. 


INDFX. 


OF    NATURAL    THEOLOGY: 

W  HEREIN  it  consists,  page  1.  of  the  existence  of  God,  two  modes  of  proof. 
1st.  the  scieutific  or  epeculaUve,  3  :  2d.  the-  simple  and  popular  in  the  works 
of  nature,  5.  another  argument,  in  the  consent  of  mankind,  7.  ohjectione 
answered,  9.  the  attributes  of  the  Deity,  natural  and  moral,  13.  of  his  spirit- 
uality, 13.  of  his  unity,  14.  of  his  power  and  wisdom,  eternity  and  omnipres- 
ence, 15.  of  his  holiness,  15.  of  his  goodness,  16.  not  impaired  by  the  evils 
of  life,  22.  of  his  justice,  distributive  r^nd  vindictive,  27.  of  the  principles  of 
human  duty,  29.  of  our  duties  to  fiod,  general  and  particular,  external  and  in- 
ternal, 30.  of  our  external  duties  to  God,  :J3.  objections  to  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  worship,  34.  the  reasonableness  and  efficacy  of  prayer,  37.  of  our  du- 
ties to  our  fellow-men,  40.  oi"  our  duties  to  ourselves,  41.  of  the  motives  which 
natural  religion  enjoys  to  enforce  its  duties,  those  especially  drawn  from  its  proba- 
ble hopes  of  a  future  existence,  44.  with.out  this  hope  the  designs  of  the  Creator 
with  respect  to  human  nature  would  seem  to  be,  in  a  great  measure,  frustrated,  46, 
the  hope  confirmed  by  Die  general  beliei  of  mankind,  43.  it  ought  to  be  regard- 
ed as  an  original  sentiment  oi  human  nature,  il'.  this  ought  not  to  be  questioned 
on  account  of  any  errors  of  speculation  or  superstition  mingled  with  it,  50.  con- 
firmed by  the  ardent  desires  of  jiood  mm,  and  its  useful  influence  on  society,  51. 
strengthened  by  the  unequ;il  distribulicn  of  good  and  evil  in  the  present  life,  5? 
the  imperfection  and  dubiousness  of  these  hopes  lead  us  to  revelation,  57. 

EVIDENCES  OF  REVEALED  RELIGION: 

The  necessity  of  a  revelatic;  io  correct  tne  ignorance  and  vices  of  mankind,  60. 
the  proof  of  an  original  revelation,  after'A;;'ds  lost,  69.  the  impotence  of  reason 
effectually  to  instruct  mankind  from  it;;  deiect  of  certainty,  autiiority,  and  mo- 
tives, 72.  revelation  neces.sary  from  the  depravity  of  human  nature,  73.  if  reve- 
lation be  necessary,  a  strong  presumption  in  favour  of  Christianity,  75.  two  heads 
of  proof,  the  (lositive  and  presumptive,  76.  miracles  and  their  evidence,  77.  a 
speculative  objection,  81.  Mr.  Hume's  celebrated  objection,  81.  it  leads  to 
atheism,  83.  it  would  arrest  improvements  in  science,  84.  applied  to  tlie  moral 
world  it  refutes  itself,  u6.  credibility  of  the  witnesses  of  tlie  miracles  and  resur- 
rection of  Ciirist,'89.  the  rapid  extension  of  the  gogpel  in  llie  first  age,  a  proof 
of  the  reality  of  its  miracles,  100.  increased  by  the  humble  instruments  employ- 
ed, 104.  increased  by  the  natural  difficulties  and  impediments  tirat  lay  in  the  way 
of  their  entcrprize,  107.  increased  by  the  fate  of  their  Master,  109.  in  vain  to 
account  for  the  effect  by  the  superior  reasonableness  of  the  moral  system  of  Chris- 
tianity, 111.  by  the  di.'Ncredit  into  which  the  rites  of  paganism  had  fallen,  112. 
by  what  is  called  the  sociable  spirit  of  paganism,  113.  their  success  compared 
with  that  of  modern  missionaries,  114.  of  mahometan  imposture,  1  fG.  the  pre- 
tence of  credulity  alledged  against  christians,  117.  their  works  shew  neithe.i* 
weakness  nor  enthusiasm,  118.  Christianity  embraced  by  the  learned  as  well  aa 
the  vulgar,  120.  tiieir  sufferings  proof  of  their  conviction,  123.  they  declare 
their  change  founded  upon  the  miracles  which  they  saw  rather  than  on  their  rea- 
sonings, 125.  the  pretence  that  the  evidence  of  tiie  first  christians  is  the  partial 
evidence  of  friends,  12.'(.  impostors  among  the  heathen,  not  attended  wit])  the 
same  efTfrts-,  126.  comparison  of  heathen  prodigies  with  chrisLan  m'ra^'.en,  527. 
of  supposititious,  or  pretended  supei-natuial  operations,  128.  Of  i^rc^/iecy,  the  next 
source  i»f  direct  evideDi'.e,  DiO  the  prophecy  of  .Moses  concerning  the  destruc- 
tion and  the  preservation  of  fhe  Jewish  nation,  131.  the  prophecj' of  Moses  and 
other  sacred  author.^  concerning  the  Messiah,  1 16  Virgil,  148  traditions  of 
other  nations  concerning  him,  151.     progressive  illumination  concerning  him,  1^4. 


VI 

apparently  contradictory  prophecies  united  and  reconciled  in  him,  155.  the  pro- 
phecy of  Jacob  at  the  close  of  life,  IJo.  rr  Hp'-tion  on  its  fulfilment,  162.  Collate- 
ral or  prebumptict  pro3fs,  V64  of  the  subCmity  of  the  holy  scriptures,  165.  of 
the  morality  of  the  scriptures,  174.  including  the  spirit  and  genius  of  their  mo- 
rality, 176.  its  extent  reaching  to  the  thou;  lits  and  principles  of  our  actions,  181. 
it  would  have  been  surprising  in  the  wisest  philosophers,  and  much  more  so  in  their 
plain,  unlettered  autliors,  13.?.  the  purity  of  its  principle,  Jo7.  its  simplicity  and 
plainnes."  adapted  to  the  humblest  capacity,  138.  of  the  efficacy  of  the  scriptures 
as  a  principle  of  lioliness,  189.  of  t!ie  promised  aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  191.  tl)^ 
verification  of  this  principle  in  experience,  192.  of  the  consistency  of  the  scrip- 
tures with  themselves,  and  with  the  state  of  the  world,  lf'3.  of  the  character  of 
the  Author  m  our  holy  religion,  197.  the  difficulty  of  drawing  such  a  character 
from  imaaination,  201.  tlie  impossibility  of  Christ's  having  acted  on  any  princi- 
ples merely  of  human  policy,  202.  conformable  with  the  character  of  tlie  Saviour 
was  that  of  the  instruments  lie  employed,  205.  a  stron;^  presumption  from  the  <5ood 
eilects  of  thecJuistim  religion  on  the  interests  of  society,  206.  it  has  increased 
individual  Iiappincsj,  209.  it  has  improved  in  a  degree,  the  religious  opinions  and 
morals  of  many  nations  wlio  have  not  yet  received  its  perfect  illumination,  211. 

OF  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  REVEALED  RELIGION: 

_  Of  the  Trinity,  217.  vestiges  of  this  doctrine  in  the  traditions  of  mo.«t  of  the 
civilized  nations  of  antiquity,  221.  supposed  silence  of  the  Old  Testament,  225. 
since  Chri.?t,  tlic  Sabelliano,  the  Tritheists,  the  .Arians,  the  orthodox,  226.  proofs 
of  the  Trinity  derived  only  from  tlie  holy  scriptures,  229.  general  proofs,  230. 
individual  proofs,  1st.  of  the  deiiy  of  the  Son,  230  :  2d.  of  the  deity  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  233._  of  the  controversy  het'veen  the  Greek  and  Latin  church  concerning 
the  procession  of  the  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  239. 

OF  THE  DECREES  OF  GOD: 

All  things  subject  to  the  divine  decree,  213.  of  misery  and  vice  as  objects  of 
the  divine  decrees,  255.  tlie  objects,  the  order,  and  characters  of  the  decrees,  257. 
the  followers  of  Socinus  deny  the  decrees  of  God  especially  as  they  respect  all 
moral  ends  and  actions,  259.  outlines  of  the  Arminian  system,  260.  Calvinistsi 
divided  into  two  parties,  supralapsarians  and  eublapsarians,  263.  scripture  char- 
acters of  the  decrees  :  1st.  eternity,  269  :  2d.  freedom,  oftiie  best  system  by  ne- 
oes.^itv,  270  :  3d.  wisdom  and  sovereignty  of  the  decrees,  and  under  these  of  the 
election  of  individuals  and  of  nations,  273  :  4th  of  tlie  holiness  and  justice  of  the 
decrees,  230  :  5th.  of  tlieir  absoluteness  and  immutability,  under  which  is  treat- 
ed the  discrimination  between  certainty  and  necessity,  ,.'01.  of  freedom  of  action, 
and  the  influence  of  motive,  233.  identity  of  the  decrees  of  God  and  the  laws  of 
nature,  285. 

OF  THE  COVENANT  OF  TVORK^j   AND  THE  FALL  OF  MAN: 

This  teclinicalphraseologj- justified,  289.  of  the  selection  of  an  object  for  the 
trial  of  nnn's  obedience,  291.  the  imDlication  of  the  threatenino',  thou  shuli  sure- 
ly die,  301.  of  the  original  immortality  of  our  first  parents,  303.  of  tlie  repre- 
sentative character  of  Adam,  304.  of  the  justice  of  this  in.=titution,  395.  of  its 
benignity,  307.  of  the  opinion  that  was  denounced  to  take  place  on  the  day  of  the 
fall,  398.  of  the  import  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  and  the  tree  of  life,  30P  of  the 
introduction  of  sin  into  the  works  of  God,  311.  of  the  opinion  of  LeibnitE  that 
aU  !:;wd  poisiblf  exists,  313.  of  the  serpent  and  the  temuf^lion.  314.  fragments 
of  the  history  of  the  fall  found  in  all  nations,  315.  of  the  immediate  effects  of  the 
fall  on  our  first  parents,  317.  of  their  repentance,  319.  of  the  effects  of  the  fall 
on  Adam's  posterity,  320.  the  gospel  united  with  the  law  in  the  .moment  of  the 
fall,  322.  the  general  strain  of  the  scriptures,  a  stronger  proof  of  original  depravity 
than  particular  passa2:es,  325  testimony  of  experience,  327.  extent  of  original 
sin,  and  of  its  tranpniission,  327  Of  Faith,  its  efficacy  as  a  practical  principle  of 
holiness,  and  the  reasonableness  of  its  liolding  such  a  distinguished  place  in  the 
christian  system,  333.  definition  of  evangelic  faith,  336.  the  depp.ndence  of 
Itilb  for  iti .existence  on  the  good  dispositions  of  the  heart,  339.    assemblage  cf 


Vll 

the  preceding  principles,  342.  the  efficacy  of  faith,  343.  excellency  of  thin  prin- 
ciple as  a  basis  of  religion,  346.  other  definitions  of  faith,  34o  of  false  resem- 
blances of  Aiilh,  348.  of  a  weak  fyith,  351.  of  a  stronc,  f;;ith,  354.  by  what 
virtue  in  faith  it  conJ'ers  a  right  to  the  blessings  of  the  covenant,  35G. 

OF  THE  COVENANT  OF   GRACE: 

Three  preliminary  questions.  'Jil.  the  necessity  of  atonement,  3C2.  the  jus- 
tice and  utility  of  vicarious  satisfaction,  365.  requisite  that  satisfaction  be  made 
by  a  divine  person,  308.  the  covenant  of  i!;race  d(.>.ned,  370.  a  mistaken  view  of 
the  covenant  of  grace,  373.  tlie  constilu<ion  of  tlie  covenant  in  its  promises  and 
conditions,  377.  of  the  promise  of  a  Savioui-,  379.  promise  of  the  free  and  full 
pardon  of  sin,  380.  » he  question  wlicther  Christ  died  for  all,  or  only  a  selected 
number,  331.  promise  of  the  spirit  dt  sanctiCcation,  382.  promise  of  the  favour 
of  God,  and  its  happy  fruits  in  this  life.  3fl5.  the  final  pi  omise  and  blessing  of  the 
covenant,  386.     of  the  condition  of  tlie  covenant  of  grace,  3;i8. 

OF  SANCTIFICATION,  AND  ITS  LEADING  QUESTIONS! 

Of  regftoeration,  306  the  author  of  regeneration,  307.  two  errors  on  this 
subject,  309.  sanctitlcation  a  state  of  progressive  improvement,  402.  tlie  holi- 
ness of  the  believer  imperfect  in  I'.iis  ]i!e,  404.  ordinary  means  of  sanctiScation, 
407.  the  necessity  of  good  works  in  a  system  of  free  grace,  408.  of  the  perfection 
of  a  moral  and  religious  act,  409.  of  the  perseverance  of  tiie  saints,  'ill.  tlie  im- 
portance of  this  doctrine,  414. 

justification: 

Difference  between  the  apostles  St.  Paul  and  St  James,  423.  the  believer 
8t>ll  subject  to  tlie  calamities  of  this  life,  425  absurdity  of  the  Romish  interpre- 
tation of  Col.  1.24,  427. 

adoption: 

External  seals  of  the  covenant  of  g-ace—  I.  Bapti-m,  433.  B.iptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper  both  seals  of  the  covenant,  433.  other  dent  )n'n;ttions  applied  to 
them,  435.  design  of  the  external  seals,  438.  difFei-en<.  in.;iort  of  tlie  two 
seals,  438,  Baptism  ourchristian  circumcision,  441.  the  desirn  of  Baptism  obvi- 
ous— 1st.  from  the  use  of  a  similar  rite  in  the  ancient  Gicek  and  Jewish  nations, 
444  :  2d.  from  its  beinrthe  seal  arncxed  by  (lod  to  his  own  covenant,  447.  the 
proper  subjects  of  this  o.dlnance  452.  the  benefits  of  this  ordinance,  459.  the 
visible  church,  403.  review  of  tiie  meaning  and  design  of  ihh  ordinance,  466. 
of  the  form  of  Baptism,  ':GH.  II.  Of  the  Lord's  Supper,  477  of  the  ceremonies 
with  which  it  ought  to  be  accompanied,  480.  of  Transubstantiation,  435.'  of 
Consub?tantiation,  489.  of  the  requisite  qualifications  for  this  ordinance,  490. 
the  benefits  of  a  pious  use  of  llii.;  ordinance,  492.  of  the  christian  doctrine  of  a. 
future  state  of  being,  497.  of  the  losurreciion  of  the  h'Jy,  499.  the  reasona- 
bleness and  preciousness  of  this  doctrine,  499.  the  future,  and  everlasting  staff 
of  punishment  to  the  wicked,  jQS. 

A  SERMON : 
The  connexion  of  sound  princjpie»  oftniih,  witli  virtue  and  piety,  .^?0. 


ERRATA. 

pU5  I  10  (oTpersoTiage,  read  patron.' ge. 

p  130  1  18  put  «^e  appearance  and  character  of  the  Messiah  in  italic  letters* 

p  161  Note,  insert  the  before  sacred  mritinss. 

ib  1  16  for  equivical  read  equivocal. 
p  163  1 2  for  connected  h-s,  read  connected  as  parts. 
p  155  I  6  for  principle,  read  principal. 
p  178  1 1  for  school,  read  schools. 
p  193  1  17  for  genins,  read  genius. 
p  1'Ll  1  1 1  for  Lyst,  read  Sy^i. 

ib.  two  lines  from  bottom  read  "^v^t} 
p  223  1  12  for  embraced,  ;e  id  emhracc. 
p237  15  ior  philosophic,  rf^-.d  pnlloirpiiico. 
p  240  1  6  in  grecianm:ike  the  first  lettf  r  a  capital, 
p  247  115  for  the  period.  aVf^r  particularly,  place  a  comma. 
p  24'.'  1 11  for  inferences  rerid  inference. 
p250  1  14  for anaZj/sis read  cnalyz'S. 
p  261  1  12  (oTindisctrnabk  rea.aindiscernible. 
p  318  i  1  for  become  read  became 
p  328  1  6  for  6y  ?ftc  exres*,  re.id  by  excess. 
p  452  1  8  (cy  righteous  read  righteousness. 
p  4'  3  last  line  but  one  in  the  note,  tor  /u:  free,  read  the  free. 
p4a9  1  1  forecywni  read  ec^w?/!. 
p  499  IB  for/o7-  read  to 
p  504  1  18  last  word,  iovrvhat  read  that  is. 
p  536  1  22  for  ii/e,  after  pastoral,  read  office. 

An  error  has  been  committed  by  tlie  author  in  the  arrangement  of  theraanu- 
Ecripts  as  they  were  sent  to  the  Printer,  placing  the  fourth  chapter  on  Faith  in  the 
room  of  the  ninth  on  Adoption,  if  the  reader  will  bear  in  mind  in  the  first  sentcn- 
cf  J,  that  its  place  has  been  a  little  anticipated,  it  creates  no  injury  to  the  work. 

THK  AVTIIOK. 


A  COMPENDIOUS  SYSTEM 

OF 

NATURAL  AND  REVEALED 
THEOLOGY; 

EMBRACING,    IN    THE    SECOND    PART,    A    CONCISE   VIEW  OF 
THE  EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITT. 

PART  I. 
OF  NATURAL  RELIGION: 

CONTAINING, 
1st.    THE  EVIDENCES  OF  THE  BEING  OF  GOD. 
2d.     THE  PERFECTIONS  OF  GOD. 
3d.     THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  HUMAN  DUTF. 
4th.  THE  PROBABLE  EVIDENCES  OF  A  FUTURE  STATE. 


'V- 


LECTURES, 


OP  NATURAL  THEOLOGY. 

0  OF  THE  BEING  OF  GOD. 

jN  ATUR  AL  Theology  consists  in  the  knowledge  of  those 
truths  concerning  the  being  and  attnbutes  of  God ;  the  prin- 
ciples of  human  duty,  and  the  probable  expectations  of  a  fu- 
ture state  of  existence  to  give  efficacy  to  those  principles, 
which  are  discoverable  by  reason  alone.  It  commences  with 
the  investigation  of  the  evidences  of  the  existence  of  God, 
Almighty,  and  Eternal ;  which  are  usually  derived  from  two 
sources, — the  necessary  nature  of  our  ideas,— and  the  obvious 
structure  of  the  universe.  Both  these  modes  of  proof,  which 
have  been  distinguished  in  the  schools  by  scientific  terms  of 
discrimination,  rest  on  one  common  principle,  or  necessary 
idea, — that  every  thing  which  begins  to  be  must  have  a  cause 
of  its  existence.  Admitting  this  truth,  which  cannot  well  be 
controverted  by  reason,  it  results  as  a  necessary  consequence, 
either  that  the  universe  consists  of  an  eternal  succession  of 
causes,  dependent  one  upon  another ;  or  we  must  look  for  its 
existence  in  some  first  principle,  eternal,  unproduced,  the 
source  of  all  motion  and  power  in  the  operations  of  nature, 


the  cause  of  whose  being  is  to  be  found  only  in  itself,  and  the 
necessity  of  its  own  nature.  The  idea  of  an  eternal  succes- 
sion of  events,  each  frail  and  imperfect,  and  all  dependent, 
one  upon  another,  involves  too  evident  an  absurdity  to  be 
admitted  by  the  rational  mind.  We  are  obliged  therefore 
to  adopt  the  only  alternative — the  existence  of  an  original 
and  independent  source  of  being,  from  which  all  things  else 
have  been  derived.  Whence,  then,  exists  this  first  cause  ? 
.  Original  and  underived  we  can  find  no  reason  of  its  existence 
but  in  the  necessity  of  its  own  nature.  A  being  existing  by 
the  necessity  of  its  own  nature,  can  never  begin  to  be ;  it 
must  be  eternal.  On  the  same  principle,  it  must  be  un- 
changeable. If  any  change  could  take  place,  it  would  in- 
volve some  constituent  of  its  nature  which  was  not  neces- 
sary. Infinity  must  be  equally  predicable  of  the  original 
cause :  for  how  should  it  be  limited  when  nothing  previous 
exists  to  bound  it  ?  or  how  should  necessary  existence  be 
confined  to  a  circumscribed  space  ?  The  unity  of  the  di- 
vine essence  is  no  less  a  certain  consequence  of  this  original 
principle.  Two  equally  necessary  and  infinite  beings  could 
serve  no  useful  purpose,  which  could  not  be  equally  fulfilled 
by  one.  There  being  no  reason,  therefore,  for  the  existence 
of  a  second,  the  idea,  on  all  the  rules  of  sound  reasoning  in 
science,  ought  to  be  rejected.  Two  essences,  equally  infi- 
nite, must  necessarily  occupy  the  same  place  ;  being  equally 
the  cause  of  all  things  which  exist,  they  must  possess  the 
same  perfection ;  they  must  be,  to  every  purpose  of  existencCj 


5 

the  same  being.  This  first,  and  sole  cause  of  all  tliiugo  in 
the  universe,  must  also  be  Almighty ;  for  whatever  can  ex- 
ist, can  exist  only  by  him.  And  finally,  he  must  be  all-wise, 
as  knowing  the  natures  and  powers  of  all  things  possible ;  for 
nothing  is  possible,  but  by  him,  and  every  thing  is  possible 
that  he  wills. 

This  is  a  very  brief  and  partial  sketch  of  the  scientific 
mode  of  reasoning,  or  reasoning  a  priori,  as  the  schoolmen 
call  it,  on  this  subject.  The  most  profound  and  masterly 
example  of  it,  which  exists,  perhaps  in  any  language,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  demonstralion  of  the  being  and  altrihideH  of 
God,  by  Dr.  Samuel  Clarke,  of  England.  But,  I  confess, 
these  subtile  arguments  of  a  very  refined  speculation,  are  little 
calculated  to  produce  any  deep  and  permanent  conviclion  on 
the  mind.  The  extreme  abstraction  of  the  ideas,  although 
ihey  do  great  credit  to  the  ingenuity  of  that  celebrated  au- 
thor, can  be  comprehended  only  by  a  few  reflecting  men ; 
and  the  most  speculative  philosopher  finds  the  effort  to  grasp 
them,  exhaust  the  sensibility  of  the  heart,  and  weaken  upon 
it  the  practical  impressions  of  virtue  and  piety. 

The  second,  or  popular  mode  of  reasoning,  is  infinitely 
more  simple  and  obvious.  And  consists  of  a  species  of  ar- 
gument which  naturally  offers  itself  to  every  man,  as  soon  as 
he  opens  his  eyes  with  intelligence  upon  the  world.  A  kind 
{»f  evidence  here  suggests  itself  which  reaches  the  simplest 


understanding,  and  becomes  more  luminous  and  interesting 
in  proportion  as  we  extend  our  observation  and  inquiries  in- 
to the  system  of  nature.  When  we  behold  its  order,  varie- 
ty, and  beauty,  the  proportion,  and  correspondence  of  all 
its  parts,  the  manifest  demonstrations  of  wisdom  and  design, 
especially,  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  worlds,  in  the  struc- 
ture of  the  earth,  in  the  planetary  system,  and,  as  far  as  we 
can  judge,  throughout  the  universe,  can  we  forbear  to  ac- 
knowledge a  wise  and  intelligent  cause,  which  has  planned 
and  arranged  the  whole  ?  an  omnipotent  cause,  which  has 
given  existence  to  this  immense,  and  various  structure  ?  and 
an  infinite  providence,  which  every  where  presides  over  its 
operations  ?  The  details  of  this  argument  are  too  extensive 
to  be  here  minutely  pursued.  They  are  not  necessary  to 
convince  judicious  readers  of  that  first  of  truths,  of  which  all, 
who  have  not  speculated  the  heart  into  scepticism,  are  already 
deeply  persuaded,  and  which  meets  our  understanding  at 
e%'ery  glance  that  we  cast  over  the  face  of  nature.  Yet  I 
cannot  too  strongly  recommend  to  those,  who  have  the 
means  of  cultivating  letters,  diligently  to  pursue  their  re- 
searches into  the  natural  history  of  the  universe,  expressly 
with  this  view,  to  assemble  before  the  mind  the  multiplied 
evidence  which  it  contains,  in  every  part,  of  the  existence, 
and  universal  operation  of  a  most  wise,  and  beneficent,  and 
almighty  power  which  pervades,  and  presides  over  the  whole. 
It  is  with  this  design  that  I  would  recommend  to  every  dis- 
ciple of  science  a  careful  study  of  natural  history,  as  the  su- 


rest  basis,  when  prudently  investigated,  of  natural  theology, 
and  an  excellent  introduction  and  support  to  revelation.  I 
recommend  it,  likewise,  as  a  study,  which  contributes  pecu- 
liarly to  purify,  exalt,  and  delight  the  mind ;  and,  along  with 
the  charming  enthusiasm  of  piety,  to  strengthen  the  most  so- 
lid foundations  of  virtue,  while,  to  use  an  expression  of  Male- 
branche,  "  it  sees  all  things  in  God,  and  God  in  all  things." 

This  argument  we  may  see  admirably  illustrated  by  the 
famous  Genevan  philosopher  Bonnet,  and  by  those  very  res- 
pectable English  writers,  Derham,  and  Ray.  But  perhaps 
no  writer  has  treated  it  with  more  closeness,  perspicuity, 
and  irresistible  evidence,  than  Dr.  Paley  in  his  treatise  on 
natural  theology.  In  those  works,  may  be  seen  that  mechan- 
ical contrivance,  that  correspondence  of  parts,  that  adapta- 
tion of  means  to  their  respective  ends,  through  all  the  pro- 
ductions of  nature,  which  are  the  most  unequivocal  indica- 
tions of  wisdom  and  design,  as  well  as  of  power  and  good- 
ness, in  its  author.  "Final  causes,  says  a  very  judicious 
writer,  may  be  considered  as  the  language  in  which  the  exis- 
tence of  God  is  revealed  to  man.  In  this  language,  the  sign 
is  natural,  and  the  interpretation  instinctive."^ — Ferg.  ins. 
p.  3.  ch.  1.  s.  2. 

Another  argument  to  the  same  end  has  justly  been  derived 
from  the  universal  concurrence  of  mankind  in  the  assertion 
and  belief  of  this  important  principle.     The  general  senti- 


uients  of  human  nature  are  always  found  to  point  to  truth. 
They  are  intuitive  perceptions  resulting  immediately  from 
the  bare  inspection  of  their  objects ;  or  conclusions  which 
force  their  evidence  upon  the  mind,  like  the  first  truths  of 
science,  necessarily  springing  out  of  the  comparison  of  our 
own  ideas.  The  concurrence  of  all  nations,  in  the  belief  of 
the  being  of  God,  is  a  decisive  proof,  either,  that  it  is  a  na- 
tive  sentiment  of  the  human  heart  arising  necessarily  from 
the  constitution  of  our  nature,  and  entitled  to  the  same  im- 
plicit credit  as  our  other  internal  sensations  ;  or  it  is  an  in- 
duction so  clearly  and  necessarily  flowing  from  the  pheno- 
mena of  nature  as  to  be  obvious  equally  to  the  wisest,  and 
the  most  uncultivated  mind ;  the  rapidity  of  the  conclusion 
giving  it  the  appearance  and  effect  of  an  instinctive  principle. 

To  this  argument  it  is  not  a  sufficient  objection,  that  ma- 
ny nations  have  acknowledged  a  multiplicity  of  gods ;  and 
that,  in  all  nations,  the  multitude  have  entertained  unworthy 
conceptions  of  the  divine  nature.  The  natural  sentiments  of 
the  human  mind  may  be  corrupted ;  or,  being  left  in  their 
original,  ajid  uncultivated  state,  may  be  liable,  through  ig- 
norance, to  many  errors.  The  principles  of  taste,  may,  in 
like  manner,  notwithstanding  their  acknowledged  foundation 
in  human  nature,  be  rendered  defective,  or  be  grossly  per- 
verted, by  erroneous  culture ;  yet  their  error,  or  corruption 
instead  of  demonstrating  that  there  are  no  such  principles,  is, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  proof  of  their  existence.    Many  nations^ 


milled  by  the  analogy  of  the  divine,  to  human  governments, 
conceiving  that  the  administration  of  the  Deity  might,  more 
honourably,  be  conducted  by  subordinate  agents,  elevated 
each  local,  and  imaginary  divinity  to  the  throne  of  divine 
worship.  But  all  mankind  have  ever  acknowledged  one  Su- 
preme God:  and  the  multitude  of  subordinate  officers,  if 
they  may  be  called  such,  which  error  had  attached  to  him 
in  his  government,  does  not  destroy  the  evidence  of  the  prin- 
cipal and  original  sentiment  that,  God  exists.  Our  object, 
at  present,  is  to  establish  this  single  truth.  And  this  truth 
is  not  destroyed  by  diversity  of  opinion,  with  regard  to  the 
mode  of  his  administration,  or  the  nature  of  his  perfections. 
These  ideas,  requiring  greater  precision  of  thought,  and  a 
wider  compass  of  reasoning,  one  man,  or  one  nation,  according 
to  the  advances  which  they  have  respectively  made  in  the 
cultivalion  of  science,  may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have 
formed  more  just,  or  more  inadequate  conceptions  of  them 
than  another. 

The  truth  of  the  divine  existence  is  confirmed,  if  such 
primary  and  palpable  truths  can  receive  additional  confirma- 
tion, by  the  absurdity  of  the  causes  to  which  atheists  have 
been  obliged  to  resort  in  order  to  account  for  the  origin  of 
things.  One  of  their  first  principles  is,  that  matter  is  eter- 
nal, and,  though  senseless  and  inert,  contains  the  essence  of  all 
order  and  motion.  Another,  that  the  intelligence,  which  evi- 
dently reigns  in  the  universe,  is  the  result  of  material  organ- 


10 

ization  necessarily  arising  from  its  original  and  essential  iprhi- 
ciples.  And  another  still,  not  less  extraordinary  than  either 
of  the  preceding,  that,  from  the  accidental  collision  of  atoms, 
have  been  formed  globes  which,  from  some  interior,  and  in- 
explicable impulse,  ha%'e  thrown  themselves  into  orbits  con- 
structed with  the  most  perfect  mathematical  exactness,  and 
governed  by  laws  which  ensure  undeviating  constancy  in 
their  movements.  From  the  same  accidental  collision,  roots, 
and  seeds  have  been  generated,  whence  the  whole  vegeta- 
ble world  has  been  evolved,  and  yearly  reproduced.  At 
this  age  of  philosophy,  one  would  think  that  such  principles 
must  carry  their  own  refutation  in  the  very  terms  of  their 
statement.  Observe  any  mass,  or  congeries  of  matter,  and 
let  the  plainest,  or  the  most  improved  understanding  decide,  if 
any  arrangement  of  atoms,  according  to  any  known  laws  of 
material  action,  could  sublimate  it ;  above  all,  could  enable 
it  to  sublimate  and  organize  itself,  so  as  to  produce  sensation 
and  reason.  Or  is  it  possible,  that,  if  one  lucky  cast,  or  col- 
lision araong  infinite  millions,  should  have  formed  an  animal, 
or  vegetable,  it  should  have  been  so  framed  as  to  be  capable 
of  throwing  from  itself  continually  a  similar  assemblage  of  or- 
ganized atoms,  while  not  another  cast,  of  the  same  kind, 
should  ever  succeed  in  forming  a  new  body  ? 

If  an  atheist  ask  us,  why,  since  we  admit  the  existence  of 
a  wise  intelligent  cause,  only  to  exclude  the  ideas  of  disor- 
der and  chance  from  the  world,  do  we  see  so  many  unaeem- 


11 

ly "examples  of  both,  in  the  structure  of  things,  and  in  the  re- 
Tolutions  of  what  we  call  providence  ?  It  is,  I  conceive,  a  suf- 
ficient answer,  to  deny  the  existence  of  either,  and  to  chal- 
lenge an  antagonist  to  produce  an  instance. — For,  what  is 
chance? — Only  a  name  to  cover  our  ignorance  of  the  cause 
of  any  event.  Nothing  can  happen  by  accident  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  an  infinitely  wise,  and  powerful  being.  All 
events  depend  upon  a  certain  concatenation  of  causes.  The 
cast  of  a  die  is  as  certainly  governed  by  the  laws  of  matter 
and  motion,  as  the  greater  movements  of  the  planets.  Dis- 
order in  the  works  of  nature  exists  only  in  the  imperfection 
of  our  own  understanding.  This  is  certain,  with  regard  to 
all  the  arrangements  of  nature,  that,  in  proportion  as  her 
laws  have  been  more  clearly  developed,  and  her  operations 
more  distinctly  understood,  those  phenomena,  which  for- 
merly were  esteemed  to  be  irregularities,  are  now  discover- 
ed to  be  directed  by  the  most  wise,  certain,  and  permanent 
laws. — One  conclusion  will  obtrude  itself  on  every  reflect- 
ing mind ;  that,  since  nature,  as  far  as  we  can  discern  her 
operations,  contains,  even  to  our  imperfect  reason,  the  most 
obvious  indications  of  intelligence,  design,  and  goodness,  if 
there  be  any  parts  of  it,  which  we  are  unable  to  interpret,  in 
perfect  coincidence  with  the  general  system,  this  ought  to 
be  ascribed  solely  to  the  narrow  sphere  to  which  our  intel- 
lectual vision  is  circumscribed.  We  cannot  doubt,  but  that 
the  same  wisdom,  which  we  perceive  in  that  portion  which 
we  do  comprehend,  pervades  all  the  works  of  the  same 
author. 


12 

it  has  been  frequently  and  justly  remarked,  that  the  uni- 
verse is  governed  by  general  laws,  which  never  change  their 
operation  according  to  the  desires  of  men,  or  the  conveni- 
ence of  particular  parts  of  the  system,  and,  therefore,  they 
sometimes  appear  to  be  productive  of  partial  and  accidental 
ills.  A  tempest  here,  a  drought  there,  a  contagion,  or  an 
earthquake,  may  involve  individuals  in  distress ; — but  the 
fixed  and  invariable  laws  of  the  physical  world  are  among 
the  greatest  blessings  to  mankind.  Among  other  benefits, 
they  lay  a  foundation  for  the  existence  of  the  most  useful 
sciences  and  arts,  which  could  have  no  principles,  on  which 
to  rest,  in  a  providence  of  expedients,  and  accommodations 
to  individual  convenience.  They  serve  to  awaken  inquiry, 
to  exercise  ingenuity,  to  encourage  industry,  to  afford  prin- 
ciples on  which  to  ground  a  prudent  foresight  and  precaution, 
and  to  promote  the  exercise  of  all  the  virtues  which  are  as- 
sisted by  the  stability  of  nature.  For  a  clear  and  lumin- 
ous illustration  of  the  utility  of  general  laws,  and  for  a  judi- 
cious explanation,  and  justification  of  the  apparent  and  par- 
tial ills  which  result  from  them,  you  will  again  have  peculiar 
satisfaction  in  consulting  Dr.  Paley's  work  on  natural  thci 
ology. 

II.    OF  THE  ATTRIBUTES  OF  THE  DEITY. 

The  divine  attributes,  as  discoverable  by  the  powers  of 
natural  reason,  will  not  require  an  extensive  illustration ;  for, 
when  once  the  existence  of  God  is  acknowledged,  they  re- 


18 

commend  themselves  so  obviously  to  the  common  sense  of 
mankind,  as  to  admit  of  little  controversy,  except  with  re- 
gard to  those  natural  events  which,  in  their  first  aspect,  seem 
contrary  to  our  apprehensions  of  his  infinite  goodness. 

The  attributes,  then,  of  the  Divine  Mind  may  be  arrang- 
ed under  two  heads, — the  natural,  and  the  moral. — Under 
the  former,  are  comprehended  his  spirituality,  unity,  eterni- 
ty, omnipresence,  power  and  wisdom  ;-i-under  the  latter, 
his  hoHness,  justice,  and  goodness. 

The  spirituality  of  the  divine  nature  is  a  property  oppos- 
ed to  every  form,  or  refinement  of  matter ;  and  may  be  re- 
garded as  distinguishing  the  essence  of  the  Supreme  Mind^ 
from  that  fine,  but  powerful  influence,  the  result  of  the  mate- 
rial organization  of  the  universe,  which  some  philosophers 
have  substituted  in  the  room  of  the  Deity,  and  made  the  im- 
mediate cause  of  a  universal  necessity,  or  fate.  It  is  oppos- 
ed, likewise,  to  the  opinion  of  those,  who  hold  the  Deity  to 
be  the  soul  of  the  world ;  that  is,  a  certain  power  which, 
though  intelligent,  is  still  only  a  refinement  of  matter, — a  kind 
of  spirit,  or  gas  thrown  oflf  from  the  infinite  system  of  its  mo- 
tions, or  its  original  fermentations. 

All  just  philosophy  has  considered  matter  as  essentially 
inert,  and  incapable  of  beginning  motion.  Spirit,  as  we 
learn  from  our  own  experience,  possesses  a  self-raotivei  pow- 


14 

er,  and  the  power  of  giving  motion  to  other  things.  The 
existence,  and  the  movements  of  the  universe,  therefore,  are 
proofs  of  an  original  spirit,  who  formed  it,  and  gave  it  that 
impulse,  and  that  sjstem  of  combined  motion  by  which  its 
order  is  still  preserved. 

The  only  knowledge,  which  we  have  of  spirit,  is  derived 
from  reflection  on  our  own  minds,  the  essence  of  which  we 
conceive  to  lie  in  thought  and  volition.  But  it  would  be  im- 
pious to  imagine,  that  we  can  thence  frame  any  adequate  con- 
ception of  the  Divine  and  Infinite  Spirit  from  whom  all  things 
proceed.  By  this  term,  therefore,  applied  to  the  Deity,  we 
can  mean  only  to  express  a  substance  wholly  different  from 
matter,  simple,  uncompounded,  essentially  active  and  intelli- 
gent. 

The  Unity  of  the  divine  nature  is  deducible  from  this  re- 
flection, that  we  see  evident  proofs  of  the  existence  of  one 
God,  and  we  see  no  evidence  of  more  than  one.  And  it  is 
contrary  to  every  principle  of  just  reasoning,  in  that  case,  to 
admit  a  plurality.  This  conclusion  is  strengthened  by  that 
unity  of  design  apparent  in  all  the  parts  of  nature.  It  indicates 
one  author,  one  purpose,  one  end.  How  far  he  may  com- 
mit the  government  of  particular  districts  of  the  universe  to 
subordinate  agents,  in  order  to  employ  their  activity,  and  ex- 
ercise tlieir  virtues,  we  have  no  grounds  on  which  we  can 
form  a  rational  judgment.    Even  conjecture,  therefore,  ouo-ht 


15 

to  be  silent  concerning  it,  lest  we  should  unawares  awaken  a 
degrading  spirit  of  superstition.  On  subjects  so  remote  from 
the  sphere  of  human  intellect  and  observation,  in  no  depart- 
ment of  science,  has  conjecture  or  hypothesis  ever  led  phi- 
losophy one  step  nearer  to  truth.  It  is  even  doubtful  if  the 
erring  lights  of  false  science  do  not  lead  the  mind  farther 
astray  from  the  true  principles  of  nature  than,  the  torpid  dull- 
ness of  absolute  ignorance. 

Of  the  almighty  power,  and  infinite  wisdom  of  the  Deity, 
there  can  exist  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  those  who  ac- 
knowledge his  being.  No  more  can  we  doubt  of  his  eternal 
existence,  and  universal  presence,  although  we  are  not  able 
to  form  distinct  and  definite  ideas  concerning  his  relations  to 
infinite  duration,  and  space.  I  shall,  therefore,  not  consume 
your  time  in  attempting  to  solve  the  many  abstruse  and  proba- 
bly useless,  and,  to  human  intellect,  inexplicable  questions, 
which  have  been  raised  on  these  subjects  by  ingenious 
men; — but  proceed  to  consider  his  moral  attributes,  holi- 
ness, goodness,  and  justice. 

Holiness  is  a  term  used  chiefly  by  divines,  and  borrowed 
from  the  sacred  scriptures,  to  express  the  purity  of  the  di^ 
vine  nature,  and  its  infinite  distance  from  all  moral  imper- 
fection. It  is,  perhaps,  the  best  and  strongest  word  in  our 
language  to  convey  the  idea  of  his  unchangeable  love  of  the 
eternal  and  essential  rectitude  of  the  moral  law,  which  he 


16 

has  prescribed  to  his  rational  creatures,  whose  outlines  he 
has  traced  upon  the  human  conscience,  but  the  perfect  rule 
of  which,  is  to  be  found  only  in  his  revealed  word.  And  it 
seems  further  to  carry  in  its  meaning,  not  only  a  pure  and 
immutable  love  of  rectitude,  but  an  infinite  abhorrence  of 
vice ;  that  is,  of  the  omission,  or  violation  of  the  duties  of 
the  moral  law.  But,  besides  this  peculiar  meaning  of  the 
term,  as  expressing  a  single  attribute  of  the  divine  mind,  it  is 
often  used  in  a  more  comprehensive  sense,  to  express  the 
aggregate,  and  the  most  complete  idea  of  all  his  moral  per- 
fections.— Perhaps  the  philosophy  of  Paganism  may  never 
have  perfectly  reached  these  just  conceptions  of  the  divine 
character,  but,  certainly,  they  are  the  dictates  of  enlight- 
ened reason.  And  whatever  absurdities  are  discoverable 
in  the  vulgar  superstition,  concerning  the  inferior  deities  of 
the  heathen ;  yet,  among  their  wiser  sages,  their  supreme 
God  was  invested  with  all  the  virtues  indicated  by  natural 
conscience. 

By  the  attribute  of  goodness  is  meant  to  be  expressed 
the  disposition  or  tendency  of  the  Divine  Nature  to  impart 
happiness  to  the  creatures  he  has  formed,  in  a  way  accom- 
modated to  their  respective  states  of  being.  This  attribute 
we  ascribe  to  the  Deity  from  the  tendencies  to  benevolent 
affection,  which  he  has  implanted  in  the  human  breast ;  and 
from  that  order,  harmony,  and  beauty,  which  exist  in  the 
whole  structure  of  the  universe,  and  which,  so  naturally  and 


17 

strongly,  associate  themselves  with  the  ideas  of  beneficence 
in  their  author.  It  is  farther  confirmed  by  the  existence  of 
so  many  tribes  of  creatures  capable  in  a  high  degree  of 
pleasurable  sensation,  and  actually  enjoying  it  in  different 
ways.  All  these  facts  contribute  to  impress  on  the  mind  an 
irresistible  conviction  of  the  benevolence  of  the  Creator. 
When  we  contemplate  an  individual  animal,  what  an  im- 
mense complexity  of  parts  do  we  observe  combined  in  one 
system,  all  contributing  to  the  preservation  and  enjoyment 
of  the  creature,  which  manifestly  indicate  the  will  and  in- 
tention of  the  author ;  and  shew  the  pains  and  contrivance, 
if  these  terms  may  be  applied  to  the  Deity,  which  he  has  used 
to  render  that  creature  comfortable  and  happy.  But,  when  we 
behold  creation  filled  with  innumerable  species  of  being,  and, 
under  each  species,  innumerable  individuals,  down  to  the 
meanest  insect  tribes,  in  which  we  discern  the  same  mwlti- 
plicity  of  organs,  and  the  same  systematic  combination,  and 
subserviency  to  the  purposes  of  enjoyment,  how  does  the 
evidence  of  the  divine  benignity  and  goodness  rise  in  our 
view  ?  The  air,  the  earth,  the  sea,  are  full  of  animated  and 
happy  being.  Men  often  overlook  these  examples  of  be- 
nevolent design,  sometimes,  from  not  perceiving  the  immedi- 
ate utility  of  the  creatures  in  the  system  of  creation,  and 
sometimes,  from  their  extreme  minuteness.  But  the  minutest 
insect,  is,  equally  with  the  lai'gest,  or  most  rational  animal, 
susceptible  of  the  most  exquisite  sensations  of  happy  ex- 
istence.    And,  in  the  eye  of  the  infinite  being,  there   is 


rs 

much  less  difference  between  an  insect  and  a  man,  than  our 
vanity  inclines  us  to  conceive.  Every  creature,  in  its  re- 
spective sphere,  is  destined  to  some  useful  purpose  in  the 
universal  system. 

It  is  well  remarked  by  natural  historians,  that  the  benigni- 
ty of  the  Deity  is  visible,  not  only  in  the  structure  of  animal 
nature,  subserving  so  admirably,  the  purposes  of  preserva- 
tion, comfort,  and  defence  ;  but  in  annexing  such  agreeable 
and  pleasant  sensations,  beyond  what  mere  necessity  requir- 
ed for  subsistence,  to  the  gratification  of  all  the  appetites, 
and  even  the  exercise  of  all  the  powers  of  animal  nature. 
Hunger  alone  would  have  been  suflBcient  to  prompt  men  to 
eat,  an  operation  requisite  for  the  sustenance  of  life.  But 
the  Creator  has  added  to  our  food  a  relish,  which  seems  to 
have  had  no  other  purpose,  but  to  increase  the  pleasure  of 
existence.  The  objects  around  us,  in  the  structure  of  the 
world,  might  have  been  applied  to  all  the  purposes  of  utility, 
although  they  had  not  possessed  that  beauty,  fragrance,  or 
harmony,  which  affords  such  charms  to  the  senses  and  the 
ima-i^ination.  There,  certainly,  never  could  have  existed 
such  exquisite  adaptations  of  objects  to  the  senses,  and  of  the 
senses  to  their  objects,  if  the  Creator  had  not  intended  them 
for  the  ends  of  animal,  and,  especially,  of  human  felicity. 
Not  to  mention  in  man  his  supeiior  powers  of  moral,  intel- 
lectual, and  social  enjoyment,  which  open  a  much  wider 


19 

a'ad  nobler  field  of  happiness  to  man,  which  it  is  hardly  ne- 
cessarj  at  present  to  survey. 

But  it  is  scarcely  requisite  to  spend  your  time  in  proving 
the  reality  of  the  divine  goodness,  which  is  borne  in  so 
many  examples  on  the  whole  face  of  nature,  as  to  account 
for  some  appearances,  and  to  remove  some  objections,  which 
have  been  thought  to  contradict  it  in  the  order  of  divine 
providence.  These  consist  in  the  numerous  evils  evidently 
mingled  with  good  in  the  economy  of  the  world. 

The  preponderance  of  good  over  evil,  in  the  general  ofc- 
der  of  things,  is  acknowleged  to  be  manifest  and  great.  But 
the  objectors  reply,  that  if  God  were  perfectly  benevolent, 
and,  at  the  fsame  time,  omnipotent,  he  would  not  have  per- 
mitted the  existence  of  partial  evil.  This  is  pronouncing  on 
an  infinite  system  from  our  contracted  views. — Can  we  say, 
that,  in  a  universe  benevolently  constructed,  there  ought  to 
be  no  gradation  of  being  ?  Or,  if  gradation  be  admitted  in 
perfect  consistency  with  the  infinite  benignity  of  the  Crea- 
tor, is  it  not  conceivable  that  a  creature  of  superior  powers' 
of  intelligence  and  enjoj^ment,  may,  by  a  certain  admixture 
of  pain,  be  brought,  in  the  scale  of  happiness,  to  the  grade 
of  one  of  inferior  powers,  but  exempt  from  suffering,  and 
who  shall  have  no  complaint  to  prefer  against  the  benevo- 
lence of  providence  ?  The  refleclion  may  apply  to  a  na- 
tion, to  a  species  of  being,  to  a  world.     How  far  superior. 


20 

then,  may  this  world  be,  with  all  its  sufferings,  to  other 
systems — which  have  no  such  evils  to  allay  a  happiness, 
which,  however,  may  be  constituted  on  an  inferior  standard 
of  sensibility,  or  of  intellect  ?  Would  a  man  of  high  sensi- 
bilities, or  of  high  intellectual  powers,  though  they  may  often 
be  the  occasion  of  many  errors,  or  of  keen  anguish,  be  wil- 
ling to  forego  their  pleasures,  in  order  that  he  might  be  re- 
duced to  an  apathy  that  would  render  him  insensible  to  suf- 
fering ?  Let  ns  balance  our  goods  against  our  evils,  our  suf- 
ferings against  our  enjoyments,  and  consider  ourselves  as 
completely  happy  in  that  grade  of  felicity,  which  is  marked 
by  the  surplus  of  the  one  above  the  other.  By  such  a  cal- 
culation, how  might  mankind  extinguish  every  complaint  of 
the  evils  of  life,  and  justify  perfectly  the  benignity  of  the 
Creator.  The  conclusion,  therefore,  which  each  individual 
ought,  in  this  way,  to  frame  with  respect  to  himself,  a  true 
philosopher  may  justly  infer  for  the  whole  species ;  un- 
less any  man  should  be  so  foolish  as  to  imagine,  that  ex- 
istence alone  gives  him  a  claim  on  the  beneficence  of  his 
Maker  for  the  highest  grade  of  felicity. 

But,  why,  it  may  be  asked,  should  we  be  left  to  estimate 
our  grade  in  the  scale  of  happy  being  by  the  surplusage  of 
pleasure  above  pain  ?  or  why  should  pain  exist  at  all  in  the 
system  of  a  purely  benevolent  being  ? — Satisfactorily  to  an- 
swcF  these,  and  a  thousand  other  inquiries,  which  might  be 


21 

instituted  on  this  subject,  would,  probably,  require  a  knowledge 
of  the  nature,  and  the  infinite  relations  of  the  universe,  which 
none  but  the  Deity  himself  can  possess.  We  can,  there- 
fore, expect  only  from  revelatioji  the  information  which  we 
desire,  as  far  as  he  is  pleased  to  impart  it.  But  while  we 
are  compelled  to  resort  to  the  feeble  lights  of  our  own  reason 
alone,  for  a  solution  of  the  difficulties  which,  spring  out  of  the 
combinations  of  an  infinite  system,  we  must  be  contented  with 
such  probabilities  only  as  it  can  yield  us.*  If,  in  the  scale 
of  existence,  then,  there  be  a  place  for  such  a  being  as  man 
with  just  such  a  measure  of  intellect,  and  sensibility,  and  with 
just  such  principles  of  action,  continually  requiring  excite- 
ment, and  correction;  and,  especially,  if  it  be  conceived 
that  he  is  placed  in  the  present  world,  in  a  slate  of  discipline, 
and  probation,  for  a  future  period,  and  a  higher  condition  of 
existence,  a  supposition  which,  to  philosophy,  is  as  proba- 
ble,' as,  to  religion,  it  is  certain,  may  not  all  the  pains  which 
enter  into  the  moral  culture  of  this  life,  be  regarded  as  the 
discipline  of  a  wise  and  gracious  parent,  and,  therefore,  as 
essential  parts  of  a  most  benevolent  system  ?  Let  us  con- 
template the  relation  which  the  pains  necessarily  incident  to 


*  Rejoicing,  however,  that  when  we  hare  explored  reason  to  the  utmost,  we, 
as  christians,  still  enjoy  the  superior  illumination  of  the  sacred  scriptures,  whence, 
if  we  cannot  derive  such  lights  as  will  satisfy  every  inquiry  of  an  ambitious  cari- 
osity, we  may,  at  least,  draw  competent  satisfaction  for  an  hnmble  and  rational 
piety ;  particularly,  with  regard  to  tliis  question,  wliy  human  nature  exists  in  its 
present  state  of  imperfection,  requiring  the  corrections  and  discipline  oftlie  pains 
and  sufferings,  which  in  this  state  are  attaclied  to  it  ? 


22 

human  nature,  as  it  is  now  constituted,  have  to  the  improve- 
ment of  its  powers,  and,  consequently,  to  its  happiness. — 
The  wants  of  man  contribute  to  rouse  the  industry,  and  ha- 
bitual exertion  of  all  his  faculties  of  body,  and  mind,  on 
which  their  vigor,  and  perfection  principally  depend.  A  pa- 
radise, in  which  all  his  wants  should  be  spontaneously  sup- 
plied from  the  abundance  of  the  soil,  and  all  his  senses  gra- 
tified by  ils  fragrance,  its  beauty,  and  luxuriant  sweets, 
would  deteriorate  the  human  character,  and  sink  the  noblest 
creature  in  the  world  into  a  lazy,  torpid,  and  vicious  animal. 
The  happiness,  no  less  than  the  improvement  of  our  nature. 
Ties  chiefly  in  constant,  and  useful  employment,  stimulated 
hy  these  necessary  wants.  Enjoyment  seldom  yields  plea- 
sures equal  to  those,  which  arise  out  of  the  activity  requisite 
to  procure  it.  The  very  efforts  excited  by  pain,  or  want,  in 
all  ordinary  cases,  or  by  the  apprehension  of  them,  often 
produce  a  satisfaction,  or  diversion  to  the  mind,  which  far 
overbalance  their  evils.  Want  whets  ingenuity ;  danger 
and  suffering  call  into  operation  the  virtues  of  courage  and 
fortitude,  which  communicate  a  character  of  grandeur,  and 
nobleness  to  the  mind,  which  often  raise  it  superior  to  the  ills 
of  life.  And  labor,  however  it  might  be  the  curse  of  man 
fallen  from  the  perfection  of  a  superior  nature,  is,  beyond  a 
doubt,  the  blessing  of  his  present  existence.  Reflections  of 
a  similar  nature  might  arise  from  an  attentive  consideration  of 
every  particular  evil  to  which  human  life  is  exposed.  And, 
in  a  moral  point  of  view,  how  much  more  justly  may  we  re- 


23 

gard  them  as  a  part  of  the  benevolent  discipline  of  oiir 
heavenly  Father  ?  They  are  the  correctors  of  the  pas- 
sions,— they  assist  the  habits  of  reflection, — and  often  recall 
the  mind  from  pursuits  injurious  to  its  virtue,  and  its  true 
interests. 

But,  instead  of  examining  the  various  evils  of  life,  and  shew- 
ing how  the  goodness  of  God  is  affected  in  permitting  their 
existence,  I  shall  select  only  a  few ;  believing  that,  if,  ia 
these,  the  benevolence  of  the  divine  administration  can  be 
justified,  even  to  our  limited  understanding,  a  hint  may  be 
suggested,  or  a  clue  given,  by  which  its  vindication  may  be 
pursued  in  other  cases. — For  example,  take  the  circumstan- 
ces attending  our  entrance  into  the  world,  and  our  departure 
from  it,  which  have  been  thought  to  involve  serious  objec- 
tions against  the  benignity  of  the  Creator.  With  regard  to 
the  former,  it  may  be  fairly  maintained,  that  the  pains  of 
bearing,  nursing,  and  educating  children,  with  the  diseases 
and  dangers  of  infancy,  which  seem,  at  first  view,  to  be  pe- 
culiar afflictions  on  the  human  race,  will  be  found,  on  ex- 
amining their  connexions,  and  all  their  relations,  to  be  among 
the  chief  causes  of  the  existence  of  society,  and  the  felicity 
of  social  life.  If  children,  like  the  young  of  other  animals, 
were  able  to  run  as  soon  as  born,  and  procure  their  own  sub- 
sistence, with  almost  no  dependence  on  the  care  of  a  parent, 
the  powerful  ties,  and  sweet  endearments  of  parental  affec- 
tion, and  of  filial  duty,   would  be,  in  a  great  measure,  ua- 


24 

known.  The  union  and  happiness  of  domestic  society 
would  be  dissolved ;  and  civil  society,  of  which  domestic  is 
the  germ,  and  the  principal  support,  could  not  exist.  Man 
would  be  a  solitary  and  ferocious  savage.  The  facility  of 
rearing  children,  and  their  early  independence  on  a  parent's 
care,  would  give  the  strongest  encouragement  to  a  vagrant, 
and  licentious  concubinage,  destructive  of  all  the  virtues, 
and  of  the  dearest  interests  of  human  nature.  Besides,  the 
diseases  of  pregnancy,  as  human  nature  is  now  constituted, 
and  the  pains  and  dangers  of  child-birth,  serve  to  endear 
the  parents  to  each  other,  by  the  weakness,  tenderness,  and 
dependence,  of  the  mother  ;  by  the  honor,  generosity,  and 
sympathy,  of  the  father;  and,  a  hundred  fold,  to  endear 
the  child  to  the  parent.  And  it  is  an  acknowledged  princi- 
ple in  human  nature,  that  the  troubles  and  continual  solici- 
tudes of  nursing,  and  of  education,  together  with  the  neces- 
sary diseases,  and  hazards  of  infancy,  greatly  augment  the 
strength  of  parental  attachments,  and  lay  the  most  firm,  and 
lasting  foundation  of  the  unions,  subordinations,  and  harmo- 
nious affections,  first,  of  domestic,  and  afterwards,  of  civil 
society.  In  these  pains,  then,  which  have  been  selected  as 
specious  objections  against  the  benignity  of  the  divine  ad- 
ministration of  the  government  of  the  world,  we  find  some  of 
the  principal  sources  of  human  happiness. 

As  to  the  manner  of  terminating  the  present  state  of  ex- 
istence by  death,  the  necessity  of  this  order  arises  out  of 


25 

the  structure  of  our  nature.     Death  is  only  the  way  of  giving 
to  successive  generations,  the  opportunity  and  the  means  of 
existence.      If  this  part  of  the  plan  of  divine  providence 
must  be  changed,  the  whole  order  of  life  must  be  changed 
with  it.     There  could  be  no  such  creature  as  man  in  the 
icale  of  being.     The  institution  of  the  sexes  must  be  de- 
stroyed ;  the  multiplication  of  the  species  must  cease.     The 
modes  of  subsistence,  on  the  products  of  the  earth,  which 
can  sustain  only  a  definite  number,  must  be  done  away. 
And,  with  these,  as  the  whole  state  of  human  life,  is  con- 
nected together  by  a  close  unbroken  chain,  must  cease  the 
operations  of  agriculture,  and  the  entire  system  of  the  pre- 
sent occupations  and  pursuits  of  men.     Man,  himself,  would 
be  the  first  to  object  to  such  a  new  order  of  things. — If 
death,  then,  be  a  necessary  part  of  the  human  economy, 
and,  to  man  himself,  it  would  be  undesirable  to  change  i;,  if 
it  must  be  accompanied  wi(h  so  many  other  changes,  still 
more  unfriendly  to  the  comfort,  and  wishes  of  mankind,  the 
only  question  which  remains  is,  in  what  manner  it  may  be 
best  accomplished,  so  as  to  attain  the  most  useful  ends  of 
its  institution  ? — If  even  the  whole  of  human  existence  were 
to  be  terminated  by  death,  this  last  act  of  our  being,  so  justly 
formidable  to  our  frailty  and  imperfection,  is  but  a  momenta- 
ry pang,   which  has  been  far  overpaid  by  the  pleasures  of 
life ;    but  if,  as  religion  assures  us,  and  pliiiosopby  renders 
probable,  this  life  is  only  a  period  of  discipline  awi  probation 
for  another  state  of  being,  and  death  is  the  aA  enue  through 


«6 

which  we  must  pass  to  it,  certainly  no  method  of  approach- 
ing that  decisive  crisis  could  be  imagined  more  beneficial, 
than  that  which  exists,  of  attaining  every  good  moral  end 
connected  with  it :— that  is,  of  making  the  descent  to  the 
grave  easy  to  the  virtuous,— of  impressing  a  salutary,  but 
not  oppressive  fear  on  all,  as  a  useful  restraint  from  vice,— 
of  preserving  the  mind,  by  its  extreme  uncertainty:,  always 
vigilant  and  attentive  to  the  discharge  of  every  duty,  which 
is  the  best  preparation  for  a  tranquil  exit  from  life, — and, 
finally,  of  inducing  it  to  hold  its  present  pleasures  in  a  con- 
tinual state  of  obedient  resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  in  the 
hope  of  exchanging  them  for  such  as  are  higher  and  more 
perfect. 

To  pursue  the  vindication  of  the  divine  goodness  in  the 
introduction  of  other  physical  evils  into  the  general  adminis- 
tration  of  the  government  of  this  world,  would,  to  the  reflec- 
ting reader,  I  trust,  be  wholly  unnecessary.^  Of  the  moral 
evils  which  afflict  the  world,  their  origin,  and  their  cure ; 
and  how  they  are  made  to  illustrate  the  benignity,  and  raer- 
cy  of  God  to  mankind,  the  only  true  and  satisfactory  account 
is  to  be  derived  from  revelation.  They  arise  from  an  abuse 
of  the  passions,  and  the  moral  liberty  of  man ;    but  reason. 


*  On  the  physical  evils  incident  to  the  animal  creation,  and  particularly  on  that 
order  of  nature,  which  has  destined  the  weaker  part  as  the  prey  of  tlie  more  pow- 
erful, see  many  judicious  reflections  in  Dr.  Paley's  natural  theology,  near  the 
conclusion. 


27 

would  be  deplorably  at  a  loss  to  find  her  way,  in  the  maze  of 
doubts,  and  perplexities,  which  attend  their  existence,  in  the 
economy  of  a  benevolent  Deity,  if  revelation  did  not  put  a 
filament  in  her  hand,  or  extend  a  taper  before  her  footsteps, 
to  conduct  her  through  the  labyrinth.  The  elucidation  of 
this  subject  belongs  to  the  second  part  of  this  treatise,  and 
will  receive  all  the  lights,  which  we  can  shed  upon  it  from  the 
holy  scriptures,  under  the  heads  of  the  covenant  of  works, 
and  the  covenant  of  grace. 

The  only  attribute  which  remains  to  be  considered  is  that 
of  justice.  It  is  an  invariable  determination  in  the  Divine 
Mind,  to  render  to  all  his  creatures  according  to  their 
works, — to  the  virtuous,  reward, — to  the  vicious,  punish- 
ment. This  attribute  we  ascribe  to  God  from  the  dictates 
of  conscience,  and  the  sentiments  of  justice  in  our  own 
breasts. — As  philosophy  delights  to  trace  the  most  compli- 
cated causes  and  effects  to  the  simplest  principles,  justice 
may,  perhaps,  be  considered  as  only  one  expression  of  infi- 
nite benevolence,  in  which,  by  proper  correctives,  restraints, 
and  examples,  the  injurious  consequences  of  the  passions 
may  be  prevented,  and  individuals  deterred  from  seeking 
their  own  enjoyments,  by  the  sacrifice  of  a  greater  good,  in 
violating  the  general  laws  of  order  and  happiness. 

Justice   has,   by   divines,   been    distinguished   into   two 
kinds, — distributive,  and  vindictive.     The  former  has  been 


already  defined,  and  may  be  applied  for  the  reformation,  a» 
well  aa  punishment  of  the  offender  ;  the  latter  is  conceived  t© 
be  the  infliction  of  punishment  on  vice,  simply  for  its  owo 
intrinsic  demerit,  without  any  respect  to  the  reformation  of 
the  individual,  or  any  ulterior  regard  to  a  farther  good  end, 
except  the  general  good  of  the  universe.  Conscience,  in 
the  nature  of  its  reprehensions,  makes  us  perceive  that  guilt 
deserves  such  infliction  ;  and,  in  its  anticipations,  in  conse- 
quence of  some  atrocious  acts  of  iniquity,  often  leads  the 
criminal  despairingly  to  fear  it.  These  facts  appear  to  indi» 
cate,  that  the  distinction  has  a  real  foundation  in  nature.— 
And,  in  these  apprehensions,  probably,  we  discern  the 
source  of  those  bloody  rites  of  superstition,  which,  on  so  ma- 
ny pagan  altars,  have  dishonoured  the  name  of  religion. 

On  this  subject,  a  theological  question  has  been  raised  of 
great  iraportance  to  religion, — whether,  in  consistency  with 
the  justice  and  holiness  of  the  Divine  Nature,  the  violation 
of  the  moral  law,  by  any  creature,  be  pardonable  without  a 
complete  atonement,  or  a  full  execution  of  its  penally  ?  If 
justice  be  an  essential  attribute  of  God,  and  its  claims,  in 
consequence  be  as  necessary  as  his  existence,  the  forgive- 
ness of  an  offender,  can  never  be  a  gratuitous  exercise  of 
mere  mercy.  From  this  principle,  results  an  inference, 
which  is  deeply  laid  at  the  foundation  of  the  christian  reli- 
gion ;— the  necessity  of  complete  atonement  to  the  violated 
law,  and  vindication  of  the  perfections  of  God,  in  the  person 


H 


29 

of  a  mediator,  perfectly  adequate  to  render  this  satisfactioHj 
in  order  to  the  exercise  of  mercy  and  forgiveness  to  the  hu- 
man sinner.  The  discHSsion  of  this  question  also,  belongs 
to  the  second  branch  of  this  treatise,  and  will  find  its  place 
under  the  head  of  the  covenant  of  grace. 

HI.    OF  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  HPMAN  DDTY. 

In  the  science  of  Natural  Religion,  the  first  subject  of  in- 
vestigation is  the  existence  and  perfections  of  Almighty 
God  the  Creator;  whence  we  may  learn  the  duties  of  humao 
nature,  as  they  relate  to  the  various  beings  with  whom  we 
are  connected.  Virtue  is  the  subject  of  supreme  concern 
to  mankind.  It  is  the  performance  of  all  our  duties  from 
proper  principles,  and  with  right  aflfections.  The  detail  of 
these  duties  and  affections,  as  far  as  nature  simply  is  our 
guide,  is  beautifully  pursued  in  the  two  celebrated  treatises 
of  the  Roman  orator,  concerning  the  divine  nature  and  human 
duty.*  They  would  be  too  tedious  to  be  detailed  in  the 
present  system.  All  I  shall  aim  at,  in  this  place,  therefore, 
will  be  to  reduce  them  under  proper  classes,  in  such  a  man- 
aer,  as  to  exhibit  a  distinct,  and  systematic  view  of  their 
general  principles,  and  very  briefly  to  present  the  ground 
and  reasons  of  each. 

*  M.  T.  Cicero  d«  natura  deomm, — et  de  officiis. 


30 

The  duties  of  morality  may  be  divided  in  different  ways, 
either,  according  to  the  principles  fiom  which  they  spring, 
and  which  govern  their  exercise,  or  according  to  the  objects 
on  which  tbey  terminate.  The  former  division  was  general- 
ly adopted  by  the  ancient  philosophers,  who  classed  them 
under  the  heads  of  justice,  prudence,  temperance,  and  for- 
titude. The  latter  is  more  commonly  employed  by  chris- 
tian writers,  who  arrange  them  under  the  heads  of  the  duties 
which  we  owe  to  God,  to  our  fellow  men,  and  to  ourselves. 
Under  the  distribution  of  the  virtues  made  by  the  ancients, 
all  the  practical  duties  of  life  were  embraced  with  all  the 
speculative  questions,  which  philosophers  have  raised  on 
that  subject.  But  the  more  modern  division,  introduced 
chiefly  by  christian  writers,  containing  a  more  obvious,  and 
convenient  distribution,  I  shall  follow  in  our  present  dis- 
quisition. 

OF  OUR  DUTIES  TO  GOD. 

The  duties,  which  we  owe  to  God,  and  which  ought  t» 
occupy  our  first  attention,  may  be  distributed  into  those 
which  are  external,  and  those  which  are  internal ;  or  into 
those  which  are  general,  and  those  which  are  particular. 
Our  general  duties  embrace  the  whole  compass  of  piety  and 
virtue  ;  and  because  they  constitute  the  moral  law  of  the  uni- 
verse, prescribed  by  God  himself,  in  the  very  structure  of 
human  nature,  conformity  to  their  dictates  is  justly  regarded 


31 

as  obedience  to  him.  The  particular  duties,  terminate  im. 
mediately  on  God  as  their  object,  and  include  both  (he  de- 
vout afFeclions  of  the  heart,  and  all  the  natural  and  external 
expressions  of  those  affections. — The  devout  affections  from 
which,  as  from  their  natural  source,  flow  all  the  streams  of 
pious  obedience  to  our  Creator  in  this  life,  are  love,  rever- 
ence, and  resignation.  And,  of  such  profound  and  universal 
obedience,  the  active  spring  is  love  ;  which,  to  be  sincere, 
ought  to  be  supreme.  It  is,  perhaps,  better  expressed  in 
the  sacred  scriptures  than  in  any  other  writings ;  Thou 
ihalt  love  the  Lord  thij  God  with  all  thy  heart,  with  all  thy 
soul,  with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind.  This 
affection  in  the  pious  mind  has  respect  to  all  the  attributes  of 
the  Deity  ;  but  chiefly  to  his  moral  perfections,  and,  especial- 
ly, to  that  infinite  goodness  on  which  we,  and  all  things  da 
constantly  depend. 

Reverence  is  less  an  active,  than  a  restraining  principle, 
and  is  calculated  to  impose  a  salutary  check  on  the  passion* 
of  mankind,  surrounded,  and  stitnulated,  as  they  constantly 
are,  by  powerful  temptations  to  vice.  This  affection  res- 
pects, principally,  the  infinite  greatness,  wisdotn,  po'.ver,  anil 
holiness  of  God.  It  is  a  principle  essential  to  the  existence 
of  piety  and  virtue,  in  creatures  so  imperfect,  and  prone  to 
evil  as  mankind.  From  the  profound  degree  in  which  it 
prevails  in  the  pious  mind,  and  ought  ever  to  prevail  in  the 
human  soul,  it  is  justl}'-  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  stiled  the 


3& 

fear  of  God.  Thia  virtue  was  held  in  peculiar  honor  in  the 
early  ages  of  the  Roman  commonwealth,  by  that  wise  peo- 
ple. And  their  most  distinguished  writers  inform  us,  that 
they  regarded  the  fear  of  the  gods,  and  reverence  for  the 
sacred  offices  of  religion,  as  the  basis  of  the  public  virtue^ 
and  of  the  prosperity  of  the  republic.  How  much  more 
truth  and  importance  should  be  attached  to  this  principle  in 
an  enlightened  christian  country ! 

Absolute  resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  and  the  wise  ar- 
rangements of  his  providence,  1  have  mentioned,  in  the  last 
place,  as  belonging  to  our  internal  duties.  It  implies  entire 
confidence  in  the  wisdom,  justice,  and  goodness,  of  the  Infinite 
Mind  ;  and  a  deep  conviction  of  the  narrowness  of  our  own 
understanding,  and  the  imperfection  of  our  own  views,  as  to 
what  is  good  or  ill  for  us.  Resignation,  resting  on  these 
principles,  begets  not  only  a  grateful  acknowledgment  of  the 
manifold  blessings  of  divine  providence,  but  a  submissive  ac- 
quiescence in  the  will  of  Heaven  under  its  most  aflflictive 
dispensations ;  believing,  that,  although  we  may  not  be  able 
to  discern  their  ultimate  relations  to  any  beneficent  end, 
either  to  ourselves,  or  others,  yet  are  they  all  reasonable  and 
just,  and  good ;  and  necessarily  springing  out  of  the  all-wise 
arrangements  of  the  universal  system  under  the  government 
of  God.  This  disposition  of  mind  is  equally  opposed  to  all 
discontent  and  repining  at  the  course  of  providence,  and  to 
all  vain  reliance  upon  its  aids,  while  we  presumptuously  neg' 


33 

lect  our  own  duties.  It  tends  to  produce  that  placid  sereni- 
ty of  soul,  so  becoming  the  character  of  resigned  pieiy,  and 
to  awaken  the  active  and  prudent  exertions,  which  virtue  re- 
quires of  every  good  man,  in  dependence  on  God,  to  improve 
the  felicity  of  his  condition,  and  his  honourable  standing 
in  life. 

OF  OUR  EXTERNAL  DUTIES. 

The  external  duties,  which  we  owe  to  God,  comprise 
every  decent  outward  expression  of  the  pious  sentiments  of 
the  heart.  They  are  all  embraced  under  the  general  name 
of  divine  worship,  for  which,  however,  natural  reason  has 
not  prescribed  any  precise  and  definite  form. 

Dit!'erent  nations,  and  different  sects  of  religion,  have  each 
adopted  a  peculiar  ceremonial.  No  sanctity  ought  to  be  as- 
cribed to  rites,  exclusively  of  the  affections  which  they  are 
designed  to  assist ;  or  any  further  than  they  are  proper  ex- 
pressions of  the  devout  dispositions  of  the  soul.  But  all 
rites  deserve  to  be  regarded  with  respect,  which  custom  has 
sanctified  by  their  sacred  use,  auiong  any  people,  or  so  associ- 
ated with  their  religious  ideas,  as  to  be  to  the7n  the  most  se- 
rious, and  affecting  expression  of  their  devotional  exercises. 
In  considering  the  general  question,  of  the  utility  of  rites 
and  forms  in  religion,  and  how  they  may  be  applied  in  the 
most  effectual  manner  to  answer  (he  design  of  impressing  the 

heart  in  divine  worship,  and  aiding  its  pious  emolions.  reason 

5 


34 

will  decide,  that  the  ceremonial  ought  to  be,  neither  too  sim- 
ple, nor  too  multifarious  and  splendid.  The  mass  of  man- 
kind are  so  much  governed  by  sensible  impressions,  as  sel- 
dom to  be  able  to  support,  with  proper  fervency,  a  religion 
which  aims  to  be  wholly  intellectual,  and  scorns  any  alliance 
with  the  senses ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  senses  are  apt  to  be 
so  much  amused  with  a  ceremonial  too  splendid,  or  multifa- 
rious, as,  in  time,  to  exclude  the  heart  and  understanding 
from  divine  worship,  and  to  substitute,  in  its  room,  only  a  friv- 
olous superstition. 

The  essential  parts  of  a  rational  worship,  in  whatever  ce- 
remonies it  is  clothed,  are  adoration,  thanksgiving,  confession, 
and  prayer.  Adoration,  relates  to  the  infinite  perfections  of 
the  Deity,  for  which  we  ought,  in  our  devotions,  to  feel,  and 
express  the  highest  veneration.  Thanksgiving,  is  employed 
in  giving  utterance  to  our  grateful  acknowledgments,  of  those 
innumerable  mercies,  which  we  continually  receive  from  him. 
Confession,  respects  our  manifold  offences  and  omissions  of 
duty.  And  finally,  prayer  regards  those  mercies  of  which 
we  have  need,  and  which  we  ought  humbly  and  submissive- 
ly to  ask  of  him,  either  for  ourselves,  or  for  others. 

These  duties,  being  continually  explained  and  inculcated 
in  the  public  institutions  of  religion,  will  not  require  any  fur- 
ther illustration  in  this  place.  Two  objections,  however, 
have  been  so  plausibly  urged  against  the  duty  of  divine  wor- 


35 

ship  in  general,  that  they  ought  not,  perhaps,  to  pass  with- 
out a  particular  answ^er. 

It  is  said,  in  the  first  place,  to  convey  an  unworthy  idea  of 
the  Supreme  Deity,  to  suppose  that  he  derives  pleasure  from 
hearing  his  perfections  repeated,  or  his  praises  extolled  by 
mortals,  in  acts  of  adoration,  as  if,  by  such  adulatory  ad- 
dresses, his  displeasure  could  be  averted,  or  his  mercy  brib- 
ed.— It  is  equally  unworthy  the  Divine  Majesty,  it  is  alledg- 
ed,  to  believe  that  humiliating  confessions  from  such  imper- 
fect beings  can  be  acceptable  to  him  who  already  knows  and 
pities  all  their  errors  ;  or  that  he  can  require  of  them  formal 
acknowledgments  for  the  acts  of  beneficence,  which  it  is 
agreeable  to  his  nature  to  bestow,  and  for  which  no  acknowl- 
edgments can  make  any  requital. 

To  these  unfair  representations,  it  may  be  replied  with 
justice,  that  it  is  an  essential  law  of  our  nature,  that  all  high 
sentiments,  or  strong  affections,  naturally  seek  for  some 
means  by  which  to  express  themselves.  If  therefore,  we 
feel,  as  virtuous,  and  pious  men  ought  to  feel,  towards  the 
Author  of  our  being,  to  check  this  dutiful  expression  of  our 
emotions,  would  be  to  stifle  the  most  reasonable  impulses  of 
the  heart ;  and  npt  to  feel  them,  would  be  the  proof  of  a  cold 
and  corrupted  soul. 


36 

I  add,  that  the  most  natural,  and  laudable  afi'ections,  when 
they  are  suppressed,  and  entirely  locked  up  within  the  heart, 
necessarily  languish,  and,  at  length,  cease  to  be  perceived. 
The  strong,  and  ingenuous  emotions  of  unfeigned  piety 
will  ever  seek  for  some  mode  of  external  expression,  and  the 
repeated  expression  of  them  in  the  acts  of  a  visible  worship, 
will  i*^ciprocally,  give  strength  to  the  inward  temper  from 
which  they  flow.  An  external  worship,  then,  is  founded  on 
principles  of  the  soundest  reason,  and  most  conformable  to 
the  laws  of  our  moral  nature.  It  cannot,  by  any  person,  who 
thinks  wisely  of  the  Deity,  be  supposed  to  be  enjoined  for 
any  gratification  which  he  receives  from  the  praises,  or  pros- 
trations of  a  being  so  imperfect  as  man.  It  can  be  demand- 
ed only  from  that  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence  which  re- 
quires our  worship  for  its  own  essential  rectitude,  and  for  its 
beneficial  influence  in  cultivating  the  affections  and  habits  of 
piety,  for  which  it  is  so  admirably  fitted.  For  adoration  of 
the  divine  perfections,  while  it  impresses  the  pious  mind 
with  an  awful  reverence  of  the  Deity,  tends  to  elevate  the 
tone  of  its  moral  feelings,  and  to  assimilate  them  to  the  pu- 
rity of  the  object  of  its  worship. — The  grateful  recollection 
of  the  divine  mercies,  in  the  immediate  presence  of  God, 
serves  to  confirm  the  aflfectionate  purposes  of  duty,  and  obe- 
dience to  him. — On  the  contrary,  the  penitent  confession  of 
the  sins  and  errors  of  life,  helps  to  arm  the  soul  against  its 
own  weakness,  and  its  impure  passions.  And  finally,  the 
supplications  which  we  address  to  the  Father  of  mercies  for 


3r 

the  blessings  which  we  need,  either  for  the  present  life,  or  in 
the  hope  of  a  future  and  higher  existence,  remind  us,  contin- 
ualij,  of  our  dependence  on  him  for  all  things ;  and  awaken, 
by  that  remembrance,  the  profoundest  sentiments  of  piety. 
Can  there  be  more  proper  means  of  cultivating  in  human 
nature  the  best  and  noblest  affections  of  the  heart? 

The  second  objection,  which  perhaps,  is  more  plausible, 
and  seems  supported  on  stronger  metaphysical  ground,  is  di- 
rected against  the  eflScacy,  and  consequently  the  utility  of 
prayer,  employed  as  a  mean  of  obtaining  the  divine  favor, 
either  in  our  public,  or  private  devotions. — The  order  of 
the  universe,  and  the  eternal  train  of  causes  and  effects, 
have,  from  the  beginning,  been  fixed  by  infinite  wisdom. 
And  the  laws  which  have  been  established  by  divine  wis- 
dom are  as  unchangeable  as  those  which  have  been  ascribed 
to  necessity,  or  fate. — Why,  then,  it  is  demanded,  should 
we  pray?  If  pre-established  causes  naturally  co-operate  to 
the  production  of  the  event,  it  must  take  place  independent- 
ly of  our  prayers.  If  otherwise,  we  pray  in  vain.  The 
breath  of  mortals  cannot  change  the  eternal  order  of  things. 
— This  is  the  objection  placed  in  the  strongest  point  of  light. 
— To  obviate  it,  let  it  be  observed  that  prayer  can  have  on- 
ly two  ends  in  view ;  either  to  cultivate  the  moral  qualities 
of  the  heart,  and  thereby  obtain  those  spiritual  blessings 
which,  in  the  order  of  providence  are  connected  with  them, 
or  to  procure  those  external,  and  temporal  good?  which  we 


38 

solicit  in  prayer.  To  obtain  the  former,  we  have  seen  that 
prajer,  with  every  other  part  of  divine  worship,  possesses 
an  obvious  and  acknowledged  influence.  The  stress  of  the 
objection,  therefore,  presses  on  the  latter ;  but  admits  of  this 
simple  and  unconstrained  sohition. — From  the  superiority  of 
intellect  to  matter,  and  of  the  moral  to  the  physical  order  of 
things,  there  is  the  highest  probability  that  the  latter  has 
been  created  wholly  in  subserviency  to  the  former.  If  this 
principle  be  admitted,  will  it  not  result  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence that  the  Creator  may  have  so  adjusted  the  physical 
to  the  moral  oider  of  things,  that,  foreseeing  the  sincere,  and 
reasonable  desires  of  good  men,  who  are  his  children, 
the  disposition  of  causes,  and  the  train  of  events  shall  be 
such  as,  at  the  proper  time,  and  in  the  way  most  agreeable 
to  his  infinite  wisdom,  to  correspond  with  their  prayers,  if  it 
be  his  will  to  bestow  the  blessing  ?  For  so  perfect  is  his  fore- 
knowledge, that,  with  regard  to  his  infinite  view,  no  event 
may  be  considered  as  future,  but  all  things  are  immediately 
present. 

If  this  be  regarded  as  an  hypothetical  answer  to  the  ob- 
jection, there  are,  at  least,  innumerable  occasions  on  which 
the  same  answer,  derived  from  the  relation  of  the  two  worlds, 
appears  to  be  founded  on  the  plain  and  obvious  course  of 
nature.  How  often  do  the  events  of  the  world  manifestly 
depend  upon  moral  springs  ?  How  often  do  we  see  the  for- 
tunes of  individuals  greatly  influenced  by  their  moral  charac- 


39 

ter  ?  And  the  universal  voice  of  historj,  has  almost  raised 
it  info  a  maxim,  that  the  prosperity  of  nations  is  intimately 
linked  with  their  virtue,  and  their  decline  as  certainly  asso- 
ciated with  the  corruption  of  morals,  and  the  disorder  of  the 
public  manners.  When  we  reflect,  therefore,  how  much 
public,  and  individual  manners  are  affected  by  the  healthful 
state  of  religion,  and  how  much  this  is  connected  with  the 
purity  of  the  public  worship,  and  the  sincerity  of  private  de- 
votion, we  can  hardly  avoid  the  conclusion,  that  on  many 
events,  prayers  offered  up  to  Almighty  God,  with  humility, 
fervency,  and  perseverance,  have  an  influence,  not  less  pow- 
erful, and,  often,  much  more  successful  than  any  other  second 
cause.  So  that  whether  we  regard  the  wise,  and  eternal  ar- 
rangements of  providence,  or  the  known  and  fixed  order  of 
natural  and  moral  events,  the  result  still  recurs  that  prayer, 
far  from  being  an  unreasonable,  and  hopeless  service,  not 
only  has  a  natural  and  important  influence  on  human  events, 
but  may  have,  as  revelation  assures  U3  it  has,  a  positive  and 
divine  efficacy.  And,  indeed,  can  any  institution  be  more 
just,  and  equitable  in  itself,  than  that  God  should  make  the 
conferring  of  the  blessings  whic!»  we  a?k  in  prayer,  to  depend 
upon  the  existence  and  growth  of  those  pious  dispositions 
which  are  best  cultivated  by  these  devotional  exercises  ? 


40 


OF    OUR    DUTIES    TO    OUR   FELLOW-MEK. 

These  duties  include  a  greater  compass  and  variety  than 
those  which  terminate  im mediately  upon  God.  They  res- 
pect the  infinitely  various  relations  which  subsist  among  man- 
kind, and  necessarily  occupy  much  the  largest  portion  of 
life.  There  is  scarcely  one  of  our  actions  which  does  not 
affect  some  of  these  relations.  From  the  general  information 
which  prevails  in  a  country  like  ours,  continually  enlightened 
by  the  pulpit,  on  the  practical  duties  of  society,  it  would  be 
wholly  unnecessary  to  go  into  an  extensive  detail  of  our  so- 
cial offices.  Sufficient,  I  presume,  it  will  be  to  suggest  a  few 
sub-divisions  under  which  they  may  all  be  classed. 

The  first  and  most  general  division  of  our  duties  may  be 
into  those  which  are  negative,  consisting  merely  in  abstinence 
from  injury,  or  the  infliction  of  unnecessary  pain, — and  such 
as  are  positive,  being  employed  chiefly  in  doing  actual  good. 
Many  subordinate  classes  of  practical  duty  may  admit  of  a 
similar  division.  But  when  we  speak  of  duty  in  general,  it 
seems  peculiarly  requisite,  on  account  of  the  many  and  strong 
passions  in  human  nature,  which  so  often  impel  men  to  mu- 
tual injury.  / 

The  positive  duties  which  we  owe  to  our  fellow-men  may 
all  be  comprised  under  the  heads  of  justice,  and  beneficence. 


41 

But  though  so  simple  in  their  principles,  they  are,  in  prac- 
tice, almost  infinitely  diversified  in  their  details,  according 
to  the  relations  which  we  sustain,  to  our  country, — ^to  our 
family, — to  our  vicinity, — to  our  friends, — to  the  objects  of 
our  charity, — to  those  who  are  invested  with  authority  over 
iiSj — or  who  are  subjected  to  our  contronl, — or,  finally,  ac- 
cording to  our  philanthropic  relations  to  mankind.  On  these 
duties  volumes  have  been  written ;  libraries  have  been  fill= 
ed  ;  and  still  they  are  subjects  which  constantly  demand  our 
attention,  and  on  which  we  can  never  cease  to  be  active,  and 
to  learn. 

OP  OUR  DUTIES  TO  OURSELVES. 

This  class  of  duties  is  as  real,  and,  in  many  respects,  as 
important,  as  those  which  we  owe  to  God,  or  to  our  neigh- 
bour. On  these,  as  on  the  last,  I  shall  content  myself  with 
simply  enumerating  the  sub-divisions,  under  which  all  the 
particular  details  may  be  embraced.  They  relate  to  self- 
preservation, — to  self-enjoyment, — to  self-interest, — and  to 
the  general  cultivation  and  improvement  of  our  nature. 

Self-preservation  includes  the  care  of  health,  of  liberty, 
and  life.  He  is  culpable  who  neglects  his  health,  which 
ought  to  be  diligently  preserved  only  for  the  useful  and  vir- 
tuous purposes  of  living.  He  is,  perhaps,  more  culpable, 
who  barters  hi^  liberty  for  any  pretended  convenience,  or 


42 

compensation,  or  who  does  not  strenuously  defend,  when  it 
is  attacked,  this  most  noble,  and  precious  prerogative  of  our 
nature.  And  vohmtarilj  to  sacrifice  life,  or  unnecessarily  to 
hazard  it,  in  a  cause  that  is  not  worthy  the  rational  and  moral 
nature  of  man,  if  it  does  not  flow  from  insanity,  is  an  evidence 
of  a  mind  precipitate,  and  foolish,  and  utterly  void  of  virtuous 
fortitude. 

A  rational  self-enjoyment,  in  the  next  place,  every  good 
man  is  not  only  permitted,  but  required,  to  cultivate,  in  order 
that  he  may  be  rendered  more  grateful  to  his  Creator,  and 
correspond  more  effectually  with  his  gracious  design  in  our 
creation,  by  prudently  and  temperately  using  the  blessings 
of  his  providence.  This  is  evidently  conformable  to  the 
purpose  of  our  Creator,  and  harmonizes  wi(h  the  apparent 
structure  and  order  of  our  nature.  But,  in  using  this  privi- 
lege, peculiar  caution  is  requisite,  lest  the  force  of  self-love 
should  urge  indulgence  beyond  that  restricted  and  frugal 
boundary,  at  which  prudence  and  virtue  should  arrest  it. 

Self-interest,  the  cultivation  of  which  belongs  to  this  class 
of  our  duties,  relates  to  necessary  provision,  and  comfortable 
accommodation,  which  no  good  man,  under  any  pretended 
idea  of  benevolence,  or  public  spirit,  ouglit  to  neglect ;  and, 
in  a  more  extended  view,  it  relates  to  the  farour  of  God,  and 
the  felicity  that  reason  teaches  us  to  hope  for  in  a  future 


43 

world,  which  should  be  the  first  concern  to  every  truly  wise 
man  in  the  present. 

The  general  cultivation  and  improvement  of  our  nature, 
which  I  enumerated  last  among  the  duties,  that  we  owe  to 
ourselves,  has  for  its  objects,  our  bodily  powers,  the  facul- 
ties of  the  mind,  and  the  affections  of  the  heart.  The  most 
important  trust,  which  our  Almighty  Creator  has  commrtted 
to  man  as  a  moral  and  accountable  being,  is  himself.  And 
the  first  obligation,  which  such  a  gift  imposes,  is  to  carry  his 
nature  to  the  ultimale  perfection  of  which  it  is  susceptible, 
in  our  circumstances. 

Such  is  a  very  brief  analysis  of  the  general  system  of  our 
duties,  but  sufficient,  perhaps,  to  present,  to  a  reflecting 
mind,  a  key  to  its  minute  and  particular  details. 

I  do  not  say  that  all  men  have  been  able  to  deduce  the  sys- 
tem of  their  duties  in  a  regular  and  scientific  train  of  reason- 
ing ;  nor  that  they  are  not  much  more  clearly  discerned,  un- 
der the  bright  illumination  of  the  gospel)  than  they  were,  by 
the  wisest  men,  under  the  dim  twilight  of  paganism  ;  but  such 
they  appear  to  be,  when  faithfully  and  dispassionately  traced 
out,  under  the  guidance  simply  of  a  purified  reason. 


44 


OF  NATURAL  RELIGION,    AS  IT  RESPECTS,    IN  THE  FOURTH 

PLACE,  THE  MOTIVES  OF  DUTV,    DRAWN  FROM  THE 

PROBABLE  HOPES  OF  A  FUTURE  EXISTENCE. 

After  stating  the  general  principles  of  human  duty,  as  it  is 
prescribed  by  the  religion  of  nature,  it  is  proper,  in  the  last 
place,  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  motives,  from  the  same 
source,  by  which  it  is  enforced.  Those  drawn  from  a  ra- 
tional consideration  of  our  interests,  pleasure,  and  happiness, 
in  the  present  life,  will  be  the  same  in  natural,  as  in  revealed 
religion.  Revelation  presents  us  with  the  highest  possible 
inducements,  which  can  be  derived  from  the  hopes  and  fears 
of  futurity,  exhibited  in  the  clearest  and  the  strongest  light. 
Natural  reason,  likewise,  presents  to  mankind  its  motives 
drawn  from  the  same  source,  and,  though  far  from  being  so 
clear  and  powerful  as  those  which  address  us  from  the  reveal- 
ed word  of  God,  yet  well  deserving  our  consideralion,  as 
those  alone  to  which  the  great  majority  of  mankind  can  have; 
recourse  ;  and  which  shew  us  how  far  human  reason,  in  its 
ojost  cultivated  state,  may  lead  us,  in  the  investigation  of 
this  most  important  doctrine,  unaided  by  any  direct  and  im? 
mediate  light  from  Heaven.  For  this  purpose,  I  shall  propose 
to  you  the  chief  of  those  general  arguments,  on  which  the  phi;; 
losopher  professes  to  found  his  belief,  or  rather  his  hope  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul.  The  authority  of  the  law  of  vir- 
tue would  be  very  feebly  felt  by  the  greater  part  of  mankind. 


45 

if  the  expectations,  or  the  apprehensions  of  existing  after  this 
life,  were  not  shewn  to  rest  on,  at  least,  probable  foundations. 
We  must  confess,  however,  that  probability  is  the  utmost 
which  reason,  paying  all  due  deference  to  its  powers,  has 
been  able  to  attain  on  this  interesting  subject.  We  must 
look  for  that  clear  and  full  persuasion,  on  which  the  soul  can 
repose  with  assurance  in  the  midst  of  affiiction,  and  at  the 
approach  of  death,  only  in  the  sacred  scriptures.  But  the 
human  mind,  in  its  anxious  longings  after  immortality,  is  in- 
clined to  make  the  most  of  those  feeble  lights,  which  reason 
holds  out  to  encourage  its  hopes.  And  Cicero  could  only 
say,  but  he  says  it  with  the  enthusiasm  natural  to  a  virtuous 
mind,  that  "  if  he  were  deceived  in  cherishing  the  hope  of 
an  immortal  existence,  he  wished  not  to  be  awakened  from  so 
agreeable  a  delusion."  And  Socrates,  in  his  last  conversa- 
tion  with  his  friends,  just  before  drinking  the  fatal  hemlock, 
thus  took  his  leave  of  them, — "You  go  to  your  ordinary  oc- 
cupations, I  to  my  fate ;  which  of  us  shall  enjoy  the  happier 
lot  is  .known  only  to  the  Gotls," 

The  christian  religion  has  produced  such  a  deep  and  gen- 
eral persuasion  of  this  doctrine,  in  the  minds  of  its  disciples, 
as  has  induced  a  common  belief,  that  the  evidence  which 
i-eason  yields  in  its  support,  is  much  more  direct  and  clear, 
(han,  on  the  most  fair  and  candid  examination,  it  will  be  found 
to  be.  There  are,  however,  such  strong  and  rational  prob- 
abilities, drawn  both  from  the  physical  and  moral  or<ler  of 


46 


(hings,  as  mdriffbe  most  serious  attention  of  the  philosopher. 
Some  of  (he  principal  moral  reasons,  which  claim  the  assent 
of  an  enlightened  pagan  to  this  truth,  I  proceed  shortly  to 
lay  before  you. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  if  the  present  were  the  only  state 
of  human  existence,  the  designs  of  the  Creator,  in  the  forma- 
tion of  man,  would  seem  to  be  in  a  great  measure  frustrated  ; 
at  least,  they  would  not  be  conformable  to  the  usual  opera- 
tions of  his  wisdom.  We  would  behold  the  noblest  being 
with  which  we  are  acquainted,  just  begin  to  evolve  faculties, 
which  are  never  permitted  to  ai-rive  at  their  full  vigor,  or  to 
display  their  full  beauty.  Man  is  evidently  possessed  of  tal- 
ents, which  are  progressive  to  an  indefinite  degree  of  im- 
provement. Yet  no  individual  has  ever  carried  any  one  tal- 
ent, and  much  less,  the  whole  system  of  his  natural  powers, 
to  the  highest  perfection  of  which  they  are  susceptible  :  and 
less  still,  has  the  whole  race  approached  near  to  that  ultimate 
point  in  the  scale  of  being,  to  which  they  are  manifestly  ca- 
pable of  arriving,  and  appear,  in  some  period  of  their  pro- 
2:ress,  to  be  destined.  To  arrest  them,  then,  in  the  midst, 
or  rather,  in  the  commencement  of  their  career,  when  they 
are  only  beginning  to  display  those  capacities,  which  they 
shall  never  fully  unfold,  seems  hardly  conformable  to  our 
most  reasonable  ideas  of  divine  benevolence  and  wisdom. 
All  other  things,  which  come  under  our  cognizance  in  this 
world,  have  a  point  of  maturity  that  is  the  highest  of  which 


,47 

their  natures  are  susceptible.  Arriving  atMJjnf,  they  begin 
gradually  to  decay.  Other  animals  increase  to  a  certain  de- 
gree  of  strength,  and  sagacity,  which  is,  evidently,  the  ulti- 
mate limit  within  which  their  natures  are  bounded.  Their 
several  species  appear  to  be  equal  in  all  ages.  There  is  a 
point,  below  which,  they  hardly  ever  fall,  and  above  which 
they  cafinot  rise.  Far  otherwise  is  it  with  man.  The  great- 
est portion  of  his  powers  would  be  lost,  and  he  would  seem 
to  have  been  made  in  vain,  if  there  were  not  another  state  of 
being,  in  which  they  may  unfold  themselves,  and  attain  that 
perfection  of  which  they  are  capable.  Hardly  can  we  con- 
ceive it  to  be  consistent  with  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of 
God,  to  bestow  on  man  so  many  incipient  talents,  only  to  be 
checked,  or  cut  off,  in  the  very  commencement  of  their  pro- 
gress,— ^germs  which  are  never  suffered  to  come  to  their  ma- 
turity. Moral  and  religious  sentiments,  in  particular,  do  not 
seem  to  have  any  reasonal,Ie  object,  if  we  are  to  regard  our- 
selves, as  being  only  particles  of  animated  dust,  destined  to  per- 
ish almost  as  soon  as  we  begin  to  exist ;  and  have  not,  beyond 
this  life,  the  hope  of  some  nearer  approach  to  the  deity,  and 
the  expectation  of  some  reward  from  him,  which  shall  depend 
on  the  purity  of  our  pious  affections,  and  the  integrity  of  our 
virtuous  conduct  in  this  life.  The  sacrifices  of  virtue,  would 
be  without  remuneration ;  and  the  noblest  dispositions  of  the 
heart,  cultivated  with  the  most  devout  care,  would  be  like 
incense  burnt  and  scattered  by  the  winds,  before  a  being 
who  regards  it  not. 


<I8 

Another  arguineiit  of  no  inconsiderable  weight,  in  the  es- 
timation of  the  rational  philosopher,  for  the  doctrine  of  im- 
mortality, is  derived  from  the  general  belief  of  mankind. 
Such  a  universal  concurrence  of  opinion,  indicates  some  or- 
iginal principle  of  nature  on  which  it  rests  ;  and  which  can  be 
only  the  operation  of  God  himself  in  the  human  heart.  It 
has  formed  an  article  of  belief  in  all  religions.  It  has  been 
laid  at  the  foundation  of  all  the  political  institutions  of  anti- 
quity, as  well  as  of  modern  ages.  And  no  nation  has  been 
discovered  so  rude,  and  savage,  who  has  not,  along  with  the 
idea  of  God,  united  that  also,  of  the  future  existence  of  the 
soul. — Some  philosophers  ascribe  this  interesting  phenome- 
non to  imitation,  and  the  influence  of  education.  Where 
principles  have  alraady  a  foundation  in  nature,  education  and 
imitation  readily  concur  to  strengthen  their  influence.  But 
when  they  are  entirely  arbitrary,  although  one  principle  may 
take  root,  and  be  propagated  in  one  nation,  and  a  different 
one  in  another,  yet,  when  have  we  seen  such  uniformity  in 
education,  among  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe,  if  it  has  not 
been  employed  to  cultivate  some  natural  principle  ? 

It  has  been  boldly  asserted,  but  I  conceive  with  little 
plausibility,  that  the  doctrine  has  been  introduced,  and  ob- 
tained credit  in  the  world,  by  the  artifice  of  priests,  in  order 
to  establish  their  authority  over  the  multitude,  by  the  all 
subduing  charm  of  superstition  ;  or,  by  the  craftof  politicians, 
and  legislators,  who  found  no  better  way  to  render  their  snb- 


jccts  obedient,  and  to  confirm  th«  authority  of  their  lawS; 
than  by  the  power  of  religious  fear. — In  answer  to  insinua« 
tions  of  this  kind,  we  nriay  well  ask,  when  had  a  few  priests, 
or  politicians  more  cunning  than  all  the  rest  of  mankind? 
But,  if  it  be  true,  that  the  order  of  human  society  cannot  be 
perfectly  maintained  without  the  belief  of  a  state  of  future 
retribution,  and  that,  therefore,  the  whole  force  of  political 
power  and  intrigue  has  been  employed  to  establish  this  sen- 
timent  among  the  people,  this  is  surely  an  argument  of  no  in- 
considerable weight  for  the  truth  of  the  doctrine.  Other- 
"wise,  man  must  have  been  formed  under  the  hard  necessity 
of  being  continually  deceived,  in  order  to  promote  his  best 
interests ;  a  consequence  which  we  ought  not  to  impute  to 
the  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Creator. 

The  universality  of  this  belief,  therefore,  ought,  I  pre- 
sume, to  be  ascribed  to  an  original  Sentiment  of  our  nature  ; 
or,  at  least,  to  a  conclusion  that  so  necessarily  obtrudes  it- 
self upon  the  mind,  from  the  united  reflections  of  reason,  and 
sentiments  of  conscience,  that  it  may  justly  be  classed  along 
with  our  instinctive  feelings. 

It  is  certainly  no  proper,  or  sufficient  objection  against 
the  universality  of  this  opinion,  and  consequently,  the  truth 
of  this  principle  connected  with  it,  that  there  have  existed 
philosophers,  who  have  denied  i( ;  or  whole  nations  who 
have  blended  it  with  many  superstidou:?  notions.— -A  minute 


so 

philosophy,  attempting  to  plunge  too  far  into  the  subtleties  ef 
speculation,  is,  often,  much  less  to  be  depended  on  as  a  guide 
to  truth,  than  the  simplest  dictates  of  the  uncultivated  un- 
derstanding. It  is  not  surprising,  then,  if  a  few  philosophers, 
in  the  pride  of  speculation,  or  the  vanity  of  affected  sin- 
gularity, should  have  added,  to  their  other  contradictions 
of  the  common  opinions  of  mankind,  the  denial  of  a  future 
existence,  and  the  immortality  of  the  souL 

The  certainty  of  truth  ought  not  to  be  questioned,  or  de- 
nied on  account  of  the  errors  which  either  speculation,  or 
superstition  ha^  mingled  with  it.  Nature,  on  many  subjects, 
particularly  on  those  relating  to  morals  and  duty,  points  to 
the  general  principle,  or  gives  the  general  impression  of  the 
truth,  but  leaves  it  to  reason,  experience,  and  reflection,  to 
give  it  its  perfect  shape  and  form.  This  each  man  will  do, 
witfi  more  or  less  accuracy,  and  precision  of  idea,  according  to 
the  strength  of  his  intellectual  faculties,  united  with  his  vir- 
tue, or  the  prepossessions  of  his  education. — The  argument, 
therefore,  for  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  drawn  from  the 
natural  feelings,  and  expectations  of  mankind,  remains  strong, 
notwithstanding  the  gloomy  speculations  of  sceptical  philos- 
ophers, and  the  absurd  admixtures  of  superstitious  nations. 

Another  of  the  moral  causes  on  which  natural  reason 
founds  its  hope  and  belief  of  this  doctrine,  is  the  strong  de- 
sire of  good  men,  and  the  apprehensions  of  the  vicious  > 


51 

which  are  commonly  found  to  increase  in  proportion  as  they 
appear  to  be  approaching  the  period  of  their  earthly  exist- 
ence. The  natural  desire  of  immortality  is  certainly,  one 
of  the  strongest  affections  of  the  human  heart,  at  least,  till 
the  dominion  of  vicious  passions  have  made  it  the  interest  of 
the  guilty  to  fear  it.  It  is  the  most  powerful  motive  of  vir- 
tue, and  the  greatest  consolation  of  good  men,  under  the  va- 
rious trials  of  life.  And  on  the  violent  and  criminal  passion,? 
of  the  vicious  there  is  hardly  any  restraint  so  effectual,  as  the 
apprehension  of  a  future  existence,  and  of  the  retribution 
with  which  conscience  always  accompanies  that  fear.  The 
hopes  and  fears  of  human  nature,  therefore,  both  concur  to 
strengthen  the  probability  of  a  renewed  existence  after  this 
life.  If  this  lively  anticipation  of  a  future  being,  in  a  happi- 
er state,  be  implanted  hi  the  hearts  of  good  men,  by  God 
himself,  can  we  believe  that  his  infinite  benignity  hath  cre- 
ated in  them  desires  only  to  disappoint  them,  and  inspire 
them  with  hopes  only  to  tantalise  them  ? 

The  same  conclusion  is  confu-med  by  the  apprehensions 
of  wicked  men,  especially  under  the  stroke  of  any  great  ca- 
lamity, or  at  the  approach  of  death.  The  conscience  of 
guilt  anticipates  a  retribution  far  exceeding  any  sufferings  to 
which  it  can  be  subjected  in  the  present  life.  And  very  few 
are  the  cases  in  which  tliis  salutary  fear  can  be  entirely  ex- 
tinguished by  the  hardihood  of  vice,  or  the  perversion  of 
a  misguided  education.     And,   certainly,   it  would  not  be 


52 

serving  the  interests  of  society,  or  of  human  nature,  to  attempt 
to  remove  from  the  minds  of  men,  those  useful  restraints 
which  the  wisdom  of  divine  providence  hath  thought  proper 
to  impose  upon  the  passions,  which  would,  otherwise,  be 
dangerous  to  the  peace  of  societj,  and  to  the  best  interests 
of  virtue. — This  argument  is  not  a  little  strengthened  by  the 
acknowledged  effect  which  the  disbelief  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  and  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life  would  have  up- 
on the  state  of  public  morals.  The  good  could  hardly  find 
in  the  general  order,  and  distribution  of  providence,  in  the 
present  state,  sufficient  motives  to  sustain  them  in  the  con- 
tinual conflicts ;  or  to  encourage  the  incessant  efforts  of  vir-, 
tue,  which  are  often  painful  and  laborious,  and  not  rarely  ex- 
posed to  extraordinary  hazards.  If  the  passions  of  men 
were  freed  from  the  salutary  restraints  of  religious  fear,  and 
secrecy  were,  as  it  then  would  be,  the  effectual  protection  of 
crimes,  the  greatest  infelicity  and  disorder  would  reign  in 
society.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Roman  writers  as- 
cribe the  extreme  corruption  of  the  Roman  manners,  towards 
the  period  of  the  republic,  and  under  the  empire  in  its  fii-st 
ages,  to  the  introduction  and  prevalence  of  the  epicurean 
philosophy,  of  which  the  final  extinction  of  the  soul  at  death 
was  one  of  the  leading  principles.  If  these  reflections  be 
well  founded,  and  the  doctrine  of  immortality,  and  religious 
reverence,  which  generally  accompanies  it,  be  necessary  to 
the  peace  and  order  of  human  society,  and  the  prosperity 
of  nations,  the  truth  of  the  principle  is  strongly  implied  in 


53 

this  salutary  effect.  It  is  unreasonable  to  believe  that  God 
has  formed  human  nature  in  such  a  manner  as  to  require  that 
it  should  be  governed  by  falsehood.  We  ought  to  presume, 
on  the  contrary,  that  all  the  plans  of  infinite  wisdom  do  so 
correspond,  that  virtue,  and  happiness,  which  appear  to  be 
the  end  of  the  whole,  must  be  established  by  truth  alone. 

There  appears,  in  the  next  place,  such  a  promiscuous  and 
unequal  distribution  of  good  and  evil  in  the  present  state,  as 
gives  strong  ground  to  expect,  in  some  future  period  of  our 
existence,  a  partition  of  the  blessings  and  inflictions  of  divine 
providence  more  conformable  to  our  ideas  of  the  goodness 
and  equity  of  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe.  If  this 
world  were  designed  to  exhibit  the  ultimate  plan  of  his  moral 
government,  it  would  be  a  most  natural  expectation  to  find 
virtue  placed  in  such  favourable  circumstances,  that  tranquil- 
lity, comfort,  and  honor,  should,  at  least,  be  within  the  com- 
pass of  its  reasonable  efforts  ;  and  vice  be  subjected  to  de- 
privations, and  inflictions  that  should  bear  some  proportion 
to  the  disorders  and  enormities  occasioned  by  it.  Contrary, 
however,  to  that  order  of  things  which  all  our  ideas  of  reason, 
and  of  the  goodness  and  equity  of  the  Deity  w  ould  suggest, 
we  often  behold  virtue  suffering  under  deep  and  unavoidable 
affiiclions ;  and  those  atflictions,  not  unfrequenlly,  induced 
immediately  by  a  firm  and  steady  adherence  to  truth  and 
duty ;  while  vice  triumphs  in  the  rewards  of  fraud  and  treach- 
ery.   Many  writers,  professing  to  put  external  circumstances 


54 

wholly  out  of  the  question,  have  maintained,  that  happiness, 
depending  entirely  upon  the  internal  state  of  the  mind,  is 
more  equally  distributed,  according  to  the  virtue  and  wisdom 
of  individuals,  than  appears  to  be  implied  in  the  objection  : 
and  Diogenes,  in  his  tub,  it  is  said,  was  really  no  less  happy 
than  Alexander  on  his  throne.  This  vindication  of  the  per- 
fect equity  of  the  present  arrangements  of  providence,  sup- 
posing them  to  be  final,  is  rather  plausible  than  just.  A  few 
men  by  religious  enthusiasm,  or  philosophic  speculation,  may 
reduce,  or  exalt  their  feelings  to  almost  any  standard.  But, 
when  we  speak  generally  of  the  happiness  of  human  nature, 
it  is  so  much  connected  with  the  sensibilities  of  the  body, 
and  80  much  with  the  relations  of  society,  and  with  ideas  re- 
sulting from  its  customs,  habits,  and  opinions,  which  neces- 
sarily incorporate  themselves  with  all  our  feelings,  that  the 
external  state,  and  visible  condition  of  men  must  afford  us  a 
more  accurate  criterion  by  which  to  judge  of  the  equalities, 
or  inequalities  of  divine  providence,  than  any  interior  and  in- 
visible standard  of  mental  feeling.  And  by  this  scale,  sure- 
ly, we  do  not  perceive  the  rewards  of  virtue,  or  the  chastise- 
ments of  vice  bestowed,  or  inflicted  in  any  equitable  degree 
according  to  the  respective  characters  of  men.  They  fall, 
rather  according  to  the  ingenuity,  vigilance,  and  perseverance 
of  individuals,  in  their  various  pursuits,  or  the  defect  of  those 
talents  ;  or,  according  to  some  fortunate  accident,  rather  than 
according  to  merit. 


55 

This  mixed  and  unequal  distribution  of  good  and  evil,  is 
probably  better  adapted  to  a  state  of  probation,  where  virtue 
is  exercised  and  tried,  by  being  thrown  into  various  circum- 
stances of  adversity  and  prosperity,  than  one  which  should 
indicate  a  more  exact  discriminatiorv  of  character  w^ould  be. 
But  it  is  contrary  to  all  our  ideas  of  the  divine  beneficence 
and  wisdom  to  believe  that  these  probationary  sufferings  are 
to  be  the  final  reward  of  virtue  ;  or  that  this  mixture  of  pleas- 
ure and  pain,  in  which  the  pleasure  evidently  predominates, 
is  to  be  the  final  infliction  of  divine  justice  on  vice  which  dis- 
arranges the  whole  order  and  harmony  of  the  moral  world. 

From  these  considerations,  we  have  the  justest  reason  to 
conclude,  that  this  mixed  condition  of  human  life,  and  pro- 
miscuous distribution  of  divine  providence,  indicates,  only  a 
preparatory  state  of  moral  discipline,  which  has  a  reference 
to  another  and  higher  condition  of  being.— 

And  this  hope  we  have  seen  to  be  confirmed  by  the  anal- 
ogy of  nature,  which  seems  inclined  not  to  leave  any  of 
her  works  imperfect,  and  will,  therefore,  not  crush  in  the 
germ,  or  arrest  in  their  incipient  state,  so  many  noble  facul- 
ties of  the  human  mind,  which  are  evidently  capable  of  at- 
taining a  degree  of  perfection  which  they  never  arrive  at, 
and  of  evolving  powers  which  they  never  display  in  the  pre- 
sent life. — We  have  seen  it  confirmed  by  tiie  general  suf- 
frage of  human  nature,  resting,  it  would  seem,  on  an  instinct 


56 

ive  impression,  or  intuitive  conviction  of  the  mind,  expressed 
in  the  religious  opinions  of  all  nations. — It  is  further  confirm- 
ed by  the  hopes  of  virtue,  and  the  fears  of  guilt,  especially 
at  the  approaah  of  death. — And  it  is  confirmed,  finally,  by 
the  unequal  distributions  of  good,  and  evil,  according  to  the 
moral  qualities  of  men  in  the  present  life. — 

These  moral  reasons  when  taken  separately,  may  not  be 
calculated  to  produce  entire  conviction  in  a  mind  disposed 
to  weigh  every  argument  with  scrupulous  distrust ;  yet^ 
when  assembled  together  under  one  view,  they  present  such 
a  group  of  probabilities,  as  can  hardly  fail  to  carry  with 
them  every  candid  and  Ingenuous  mind  ;  and  must  make  even 
the  cold  scepticism  of  infidelity  relent.  But,  I  must  repeat, 
that  full,  unwarering  conviction,  on  this  most  interesting  sub- 
ject, can  be  obtained  only  from  revelation,  which,  at  the 
same  time,  that  it  assures  us  of  the  fact  of  a  future,  and  im- 
mortal state  of  being,  discloses  to  us,  in  some  measure, 
wherein  it  consists. 

On  the  nature  of  our  future  existence,  admitting  what 
reason  I  think  demonstrates,  that  it  is,  in  the  highest  degree 
probable,  we  can  form  no  precise  and  certain  ideas  ;  that 
state  being  too  far  removed  beyond  the  range  of  our  present 
experience.  We  can  speak  of  it  only  in  the  most  general 
terms.  But,  from  the  analogy  of  what  actually  comes  under 
our  observation  of  the  process  of  nature,  we  have  just  ground 


57 

to  conclude,  that  the  condition  of  human  life,  will  be  greatly 
improved  above  its  actual  state  in  the  present  world,  both  in 
personal  form,  if,  according  to  the  ideas  of  religion,  we  look 
for  a  re-union  of  the  body  with  the  soul,  and  in  the  powers 
of  the  mind.  In  those  transmutations  which  pass  under  our 
immediate  review  in  the  insect  tribes,  we  never  see  them  pass 
from  one  state,  to  resume  the  same  appearance  in  anotherj 
but,  in  each  gradation  in  their  progress,  they  acquire  augmented 
powers,  and  are  invested  with  new,  and  more  beautiful  forms. 
It  cannot,  therefore,  be  unreasonable  to  expect  a  vast  aug- 
mentation in  the  active  powers  of  our  nature,  both  corporeal, 
and  mental ;  in  the  quickness  and  vivacity  of  the  senses,  in 
the  beauty  and  excursive  force  of  the  imagination,  and  the 
penetration  and  energies  of  the  understanding.  And  the 
same  analogies  incline  us  to  expect  the  addition  or  develope- 
ment  of  many  new  faculties,  of  which,  in  the  present  state, 
the  imperfection  of  our  reason  cannot  form  any  conception. 

Nor  is  it  improbable  that,  in  an  immortal  existence,  the 
renovated  faculties  of  our  nature  will  advance  forward  in  an 
endless  progression  of  improvements,  whether  reason  incline 
us  more  to  the  idea  of  one  continued  but  improving  form  of 
existence,  or  to  the  pythagorean  principle  of  successive 
transmutations.  And  in  the  system  of  the  universe,  there 
is,  undoubtedly,  an  ample  theatre  for  an  interminable  progress 
both  in  knowledge  and  in  virtue.  Nor  can  we  doubt  but  that 
there,  the  wisdom,  the  power,  the  goodness,  and  equity  of 


58 

the  divine  perfections  will  be  more  conspicuously,  and  illus- 
triously displayed,  than  in  the  present  introductory  state  of 
being. 

Such,  without  giving  any  unwarranted  license  to  the  ex- 
cursions of  imagination,  and  judging  only  from  actual  analo- 
gies presented  to  our  senses,  and  reason,  may  we  presume 
to  be  a  just,  as  far  as  it  is  extended,  though  most  imperfect 
outline  of  that  future  existence  to  which  virtue  ardently  as- 
pires, and  to  the  hope  of  which  the  most  cool,  and  dispas- 
sionate examination  of  reason  deliberately  affixes  its  seal. 


EVIDENCES 


CHRISTIAN  RELIGION. 


INTRODUCTION.      THE  NECESSITY  OF  REVELATION. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  consideration  of  the  doctrines 
of  our  holy  religion,  it  is  necessary  in  the  first  place  to  dis- 
play its  evidences,  that  our  faith  may  not  be  merely  an  en- 
thusiastic and  visionary  confidence,  but  a  rational  offering  to 
truth  and  reason. 

And  if  I  should  propose  little,  or  even  nothing  that  is  new 
on  this  subject,  I  hope  to  be  able  to  comprise  the  general 
argument  in  favor  of  Christianity,  in  such  a  narrow  compass, 
and  exhibit  it  in  such  an  easy  and  perspicuous  order,  as  not 
only  to  afford  conviction,  but  furnish  a  concise  and  ready  an- 
swer to  those  popular  objections  which  are  most  frequently 
urged  against  the  holy  scriptures. 

But  before  proceeding  directly  to  exhibit  the  proofs  on 
which  our  faith  in  the  christian  system  may  rationally  rest,  I 
shall,  in  the  first  place,  offer  to  you  several  considerations 
which  afford  a  strong  presumption  of  the  necessity  of  some 


60 

divine  communication  from  heaven  to  instruct  mankind  in  the 
knowledge  of  their  duty,  and  of  the  hopes  they  may  lawful- 
ly entertain  from  the  divine  mercy.  For,  if  revelation  be 
not  necessary,  and  reason  alone  be  sufficient  to  lead  man  to 
his  Creator,  and  to  furnish  him  with  all  the  principles,  the 
motives,  and  aids  of  duty  which  are  requisite  in  his  present 
state,  any  examination  into  the  truth  of  Christianity  is  mani- 
festly superfluous.  But,  if  we  see  evils  reigning  over  the 
moral  world,  which  reason  and  philosophy  are  unable  to 
cure,  our  confidence  in  the  benignity  of  our  heavenly  Father 
will  naturally  lead  us  to  expect  his  interposition,  in  some  ex- 
traordinary way,  in  behalf  of  his  erring,  and  afflicted,  though 
disobedient  children. 

The  necessity  of  a  revelation  may  be  inferred  from  the  ex- 
treme ignorance,  and  even  the  monstrous  errors  with  regard 
to  the  being  of  God,  and  to  the  nature  of  the  worship  which 
he  requires,  as  well  as  with  regard  to  a  future  existence, 
which  prevailed  almost  universally  among  mankind  at  the 
period  of  the  birth  of  Christ ;  it  may  be  inferred  from  the 
extreme  and  universal  depravation  of  morals,  which  the 
lights  of  nature  and  the  aids  of  reason  had  become  utterly 
impotent  to  remedy  :  And,  finally,  it  may  be  inferred  from 
the  incapacity  of  the  unaided  powers  of  the  human  mind, 
satisfactorily  to  determine,  if  mercy  will,  or  can,  in  consis- 
tency with  the  justice  of  God,  and  the  purity  of  the  divine 
nature,  be  extended  to  the  guilty. 


61 

At  the  period  when  Christianity  first  appeared  in  the 
world,  the  principles  even  of  natural  religion  had  nearly  per- 
ished from  among  men.  Instead  of  those  pure  and  sublime 
conceptions  which  every  reasonable  and  dependent  creature 
ought  to  entertain  of  the  supreme  and  infinite  Creator,  man- 
kind had  degraded  the  objects  of  their  worship  below  even 
the  vilest  and  most  profligate  of  their  worshippers.  "  The 
glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  they  had  changed  into  an 
image  made  like,  not  only  to  corruptible  man,  but  to  four' 
footed  beasts  and  creeping  things.'*  They  deified  all  the 
passions,  and  served  them  with  all  the  vices.  What  were 
Saturn  and  Moloch,  and  Venus  and  Bacchus,  but  cruelty, 
and  hist,  and  intemperance  personified?  And  what  were 
their  altars,  their  temples,  and  their  groves,  but  scenes  of 
the  grossest  pollution,  and  often  of  the  most  horrid  crimes  ? 
In  many  countries,  and  especially  in  India,  in  Egypt,  and 
Syria,  they  deified  the  obscenest  parts  of  the  human  body, 
and  served  these  detestable  idols  with  a  correspondent  wor- 
ship. 

The  ideas  which  they  framed,  and  the  hopes  which  they 
conceived  of  a  future  state  of  existence,  were  so  uncertain 
and  obscure ;  and  were  at  best,  so  gloomy  and  uncomforta- 
ble, as  to  afibrd  little  encouragement  and  support  to  the 
heart  in  those  painful  self-denials,  and  those  arduous  conflicts 
which  it  must  often  undergo  in  aspiring  to  an  elevated  pitch 
of  vtftue.    As  little  were  they  calculated  to  console  it  at 


62 

the  approach  of  death,  which,  to  them,  was  the  loss  of  ev- 
ery enjoyment,  and  of  every  hope  ;  and  still  less  to  elevate 
it  above  the  mere  pleasures  of  sense,  and  to  prepare  it  here- 
after for  a  spiritual  and  celestial  state  of  being.     Reason,  in- 
deed, in  its  highest  improvements,  however  it  may  accumu- 
late probabilities,  can  afford  no  secure  expectation,  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.     But,  in  the  hand  of  vice,  it  is  used 
rather  as  a  weapon  to  destroy  this  precious  hope ;  for,  im- 
mortality can  be  desirable  only  to  virtue.     And  when  this 
expectation  is  destroyed,  the  broadest  encouragement  is  laid 
open  to  every  sensual  and  criminal  excess.     For,  if  no  high- 
er and  happier  condition  of  being  awaits  the  virtuous ;  if  the 
vicious  have  no  future  retribution  to  apprehend,  why  should 
they  impose   any  restraint  upon  their  present  pleasures? 
Can  any  maxim  be  more  natural  to  the  misjudging  mass  of 
mankind,  the  children  of  appetite  and  passion,  than  that  of 
the  degenerate  disciples  of  Epicurus :  Let  us  eat  and  drink, 
for  to-morrow  we  dk? 

From  these,  and  other  causes  connected  with  them,  the  de- 
pravation of  morals  had  become  extreme  throughout  all  the 
nations  of  antiquity  before  the  advent  of  the  Messiah.  They 
had  long  abandoned  that  simplicity  of  manners  which  reign- 
ed in  the  primitive  ages ;  and  which  was,  in  part  at  least,  to 
be  ascribed  to  those  just  and  noble  sentiments  of  the  deity 
which  appear  to  have  been  entertained  by  the  patriarchs  of 
the  old  world.    Sentiments  which  were  probably  the  re- 


63 

mains  of  an  original  revelation  imparted  by  God  to  the  father 
of  the  human  race,  and  repeated  to  the  second  progenitor 
of  mankind  after  the  deluge,  and  bj  him  communicated  to 
the  nations  immediately  springing  from  him.  For,  in  pro- 
portion as  men  descended  farther  from  this  source,  and  the 
traces  of  this  primitive  tradition  became  obscure,  and  mix- 
ed with  the  errors  and  fables  which  time  incorporated  with 
it,  we  find  the  deepest  ignorance  and  the  grossest  idolatry 
prevailing,  together  with  a  correspondent  corruption  of  mor- 
als, which,  in  a  course  of  ages,  arrived,  at  length,  to  bid  de- 
fiance to  all  restraint  and  all  decency.  The  apostle  Paul, 
in  the  first  chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the  Romans,*  has  drawn 
a  dark  and  melancholy  picture  of  the  moral  state  of  the  hea- 
then world ;  and,  addressing  converted  Romans  and  Greeks, 
he  implicitly  appeals  for  its  verification  to  their  own  obser- 
vation and  experience.  And  some,  even  of  their  own  wri- 
ters, have  given  to  us  the  same  picture  in  colours  hardly 
less  dark.  No  where,  perhaps,  can  we  find  a  portrait  of  the 
moral  state  of  men  given  in  deeper  shades  than  that  which 
Juvenal  has  di'awn  of  the  manners  of  Rome  in  his  age.  And 
though  some  allowance  is  to  be  made  for  the  colourings  of 
poetry,  and  especially  of  satire ;  yet  satire  must  be  drawn 
from  real  life,  and  present  to  us  a  strong  resemblance  of 
character,  otherwise,  it  loses  all  its  eflfect. 

*  Rom.  chap.  I.  v.  24—31. 


64 

It  may  be  asked,  perhaps,  if  reason,  prudently  and  dili- 
gently applied,  might  not  have  produced  a  reform  of  this 
general  corruption  ?  I  answer  without  hesitation  that  this 
was  an  effect  beyond  its  power.  It  cannot  promulge  its 
laws  with  sufficient  clearness  and  certainty ;  and  these  laws 
are  destitute  of  adequate  sanctions.  That  it  wants  certain' 
ty  is  evident  from  the  eternal  doubts,  disputes,  and  contra- 
dictions of  its  pretended  lawgivers,  the  philosophers.  It 
may  be  still  more  evident  to  those  observers  of  human  na- 
ture who  have  seen  with  what  facility  the  heart  is  able  to 
bias  or  tincture  every  moral  dictate  of  the  understanding 
when  opposed  to  our  self-love.  But,  in  the  next  place,  its 
laws  are  destitute  of  adequate  sanctions.  The  sanctions  of 
the  law  of  reason  and  nature  consist  only  in  that  self-appro- 
bation which  spiings  from  the  love  of  truth  and  the  per- 
formance  of  our  dutyj  and  those  inward  reproaches  of  con- 
science which  follow  an  action  that  we  feel  and  acknowledge 
to  be  wrong.  But  what  is  the  love  of  truth  or  duty  in  a  heart 
that  is  already  corrupted  ?  And  how  feeble  are  the  reproach- 
es of  conscience,  when  not  enforced  by  the  belief  that  we  are 
accountable  to  a  supreme  Judge,  and  by  the  expectation  of 
a  future  state  of  retribution !  Its  faltering  remonstrances  are 
easily  appeased  by  the  flalteries  of  self-love,  or  stiSed  in  the 
tumults  of  pleasure.  No :  a  corrupt  age,  a  degenerate  world, 
never  can  be  reformed  by  the  influence  of  reason  alone. 
Its  lights  are  too  dubious  and  uncertain ;  its  sanctions  are 
too  feeble.     The  mass  of  mankind  are  not  capable  of  com- 


65 

prehending  the  one,  nor  of  being  rationally  governed  by  the 
force  of  the  other. 

The  masters  of  science  among  the  Greeks,  fully  persuad- 
ed of  this  truth,  never  pretended  to  impart  to  the  people  any 
of  their  moral  or  theological  systems ;  believing  them  incom- 
petent to  comprehend  their  first  principles,  and  still  more  in- 
capable of  pursuing  these  principles,  in  a  train  of  regular, 
but  often  complicated  deductions,  to  their  legitimate  conclu- 
sions. Hopeless  therefore  of  their  reformation,  they  aban- 
doned them  to  the  powers  of  superstition,  to  practise  its  ab- 
surd, and  often  licentious  rites,  without  attempting  to  instruct 
them.  This  it  was  that  made  Socrates  say,  as  Plato  has  re- 
corded the  conversation,  "  You  may  resign  all  hope  of  re- 
forming the  manners  of  men,  unless  it  please  God  to  send 
some  person  to  instruct  you."  And  made  Plato  himself 
say,  "  Whatever  is  set  right,  in  the  present  ill  state  of  the 
world,  can  be  done  only  by  the  interposition  of  God."^ 
These  maxims  of  these  great  philosophers  imply  that,  though 
the  people  may  be  capable  of  receiving  the  most  wise  and 
excellent  principles  of  theology,  or  of  morals,  from  authority 
which  is  supposed  to  be  divine  ;  yet,  if  they  were  set  to 
work  them  out  by  the  efforts  of  their  own  understanding,  or 
by  the  aid  of  merely  human  teaehers,  the  moral  state  of  the 
world  must  be  irremediable.     Blind  and  arrogant,  or  scepti- 


*"  Plato's  treatiac  concerning  a  republic  i  book  vi 
9 


66 

cal,  must  be  the  teachers ;  dull,  and  incapable  of  learning, 
or  bewildered  in  the  doubts  of  their  masters,  must  be  the 
scholars. 

Such  was  the  necessity,  felt  and  acknowledged  by  the 
wisest  men  in  the  heathen  world,  of  some  revelation  from 
heaven  to  instruct  mankind  in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth, 
and  to  give  it  effectual  operation  on  their  hearts  and  lives. 
If  the  great  body,  even  of  the  populace,  seem  now  to  be 
more  susceptible  of  rational  ideas  on  the  subject  of  religion  ; 
if  they  entertain  sublimer  and  purer  apprehensions  of  the  di- 
vine nature,  and  of  that  spiritual  worship  which  should  be 
paid  to  the  supreme  Creator ;  and  if  we  see  the  tone  of  pub- 
lic morals  raised  to  a  higher  pitch,  and  regulated  by  a  higher 
standard ;  if  every  where  we  behold  that  very  populace, 
who  were  denounced  by  the  philosophers  as  incapable  of  a 
rational  sytem  of  religion,  thinking  more  wisely  and  more 
justly  on  the  transcendent  subjects  of  the  divine  nature,  of 
human  duly,  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  than  those 
philosophers  themselves,  are  we  not  fairly  entitled  to  ascribe 
these  effects  to  the  influence  of  our  holy  religion ;  since  rea. 
son  had  before  tried,  in  vain,  her  full  force  upon  the  human 
mind  and  the  human  character  ? 

But,  the  impotence  of  reason  to  instruct  and  reform  man- 
kind, is  not  to  be  seen  only,  or  even  chiefly,  in  the  ignorance 
and  vices  of  the  people.     It  is,  perhaps,  not  less  discernible 


er 

in  the  errors,  the  follies,  and  corruptions  of  the  philosophers 
themselves,  who  cultivated  it  with  the  greatest  assiduity,  and 
who  boasted  having  carried  it  to  its  highest  improvement. 
What  do  we  find  among  them  but  eternal  doubts  and  con- 
tradictions :  opinions  ever  varying,  and  settled  on  no  certain 
basis  of  truth  ;  which  were,  therefore,  found  utterly  incompe- 
tent to  control  the  passions,  or  to  regulate  the  conduct  even 
of  the  professed  disciples  of  reason  ?  The  lives  of  the  philo- 
sophers, with  few  exceptions,  were  not  less  dissolute  than 
those  of  the  people  whom  they  despised.  And,  on  the  real 
nature  of  religion,  and  the  true  principles  of  duty,  the  sage, 
as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  was  scarcely  better  informed  than 
the  peasant. 

But,  lest  these  reproaches  should  seem  to  be  the  result 
merely  of  the  prejudices  of  religion,  let  me  appeal  to  Cicero, 
the  greatest  of  philosophers,  as  well  as  of  orators,  who  de- 
nounces them  in  still  stronger  language :  "  Do  you  think, 
says  he,  that  these  precepts  of  morality  had  any  influence, 
except  in  a  very  few  instances,  upon  the  men  who  speculat- 
ed, wrote,  and  disputed  concerning  them  ?  No :  who  is 
there  of  all  the  philosophers  whose  mind,  life,  and  manners 
were  conformed  to  the  dictates  of  right  reason  ?  Which  of 
them  ever  made  his  philosophy  the  law  and  rule  of  his  life, 
and  not  merely  an  occasion  of  displaying  his  own  ingenuity  ? 
Which  of  them  has  conformed  himself  to  his  own  doctrines, 
or  lived  in  obedience  to  his  own  precepts  ?  On  the  contrary. 


68 

many  of  them  hare  been  slaves  to  the  vilest  lusts,  to  pride, 
to  avarice,  and  to  other  similar  vices."* 

Nor  is  this  surprising  to  those  vrho  consider  that  the  ex- 
treme refinements  of  reason,  which  arise  from  the  natural 
ambition  of  human  pride,  to  extend  its  authority  beyond  its 
proper  sphere,  always  tend  to  dogmatical  error  in  bold  and 
ardent  minds,  or  to  the  cold  indifference  of  scepticism,  in 
minds  of  an  opposite  character.  What  is  really  within  the 
reach  of  human  reason  lies  near  the  surface,  and  is  obvious 
to  a  sincere  and  impartial  love  of  truth.  But  when  we 
would  penetrate  deeper  into  the  causes  and  the  nature  of 
things,  attempting  to  pass  the  limits  prescribed  to  human  in- 
tellect, we  are  immediately  bewildered  in  error  and  doubt. 
Hence  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  and  Intelligent  Cause  of 
the  universe,  which  to  a  plain  and  honest  mind  seems  an  in- 
tuitive dictate  of  the  understanding,  has  become  doubtful,  as 
soon  as  ingenious  men  have  made  it  a  subject  of  speculation. 
They  have  pretended  to  doubt  of  their  own  existence,  of 
the  existence  of  the  universe,  and  the  reality  of  their  own 
sensations.  At  best,  the  most  important  principles  of  reli- 
gion and  morals  are  thrown  out  merely  as  subjects  of  inge- 
nious disquisition,  intended  to  exercise  and  display  their  wit. 
There  existed  accordingly,  in  the  various  schools  of  Greece, 
such  diversity  and  contradiction  of  sentiment,  such  subtlety 


*  Tusculan  Questions ;  book  ii. 


69 

and  refinement,  and  often  such  systematic  scepticism,  that 
their  theological  and  moral  principles,  thrown  into  the  gene- 
ral  mass  of  the  subtleties  of  science,  about  which  they  were 
accustomed  to  dispute,  lost  all  authority  over  human  con- 
duct. In  a  short  period  after  the  introduction  of  philoso- 
phy, the  greater  part  of  its  professors  became  both  vicious 
in  their  lives,  and  atheistical  in  their  opinions.  And  these 
masters  of  science,  instead  of  proving  the  reformers  of  the 
world,  only  hastened  its  corruption  ;  and,  by  weakening  or 
destroying  the  ideas  of  a  Supreme  Judge,  and  a  future  re- 
tribution, opened  a  wider  door  to  the  licentious  indulgence 
of  all  the  passions» 

PROOF  OF  AN  ORIGINAL  REVELATION  TO  MAN.       IMPO- 
TENCE OF  REASON.       NECKSSITV  OF  A 
NEW    REVEL'ATION. 

The  impotence  of  reason  alone  to  accomplish  the  refoi=- 
mation  of  the  world,  in  the  midst  of  the  darkness  and  cor- 
ruption into  which  it  was  sunk,  is  manifest  from  this  addi- 
tional fact,  that  the  longer  men  relied  upon  it,  and  commit- 
ted themselves  to  tlie  guidance  solely  of  its  lights ;  that  is, 
the  farther  we  descend  in  history  from  the  beginning  of  time, 
the  more  absurd  do  we  find  the  superstitions  of  the  people, 
the  more  atheistical  and  impious  the  systems  of  the  philoso^ 
phers,  and  the  more  degenerate  the  morals  of  both. 


70 

InaSQiucb,  as  mankind,  at  the  coming  of  Christ,  had  near- 
ly lost  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  and  his  worship  ;  and, 
as  their  moral  depravity  had  kept  pace  with  their  religious 
errors,  and  none  of  the  ordinary  powers  of  human  reason 
were  found  competent  to  remedy  evils  so  extreme,  it  seems 
consistent  with  all  just  ideas  of  the  perfections  of  God,  and 
conformable  to  our  reasonable  hopes  in  his  wisdom,  good- 
ness, and  compassion,  that  he  should  interpose,  by  some  ex- 
traordinary communication  of  himself,  to  save  religion  from 
utterly  perishing,  and  to  recal  men  to  virtue  and  order  by 
the  knowledge  of  divine  truth.  The  lights  of  tradition 
which  had  been  gradually  growing  more  dim  for  ages,  were 
now  nearly  extinguished  under  a  mass  of  the  most  corrupt  and 
shameful  superstitions  that  ever  oppressed  the  world,  and 
degraded  human  nature.  And  the  wisest  sages,  bewildered 
in  eternal  doubt,  and  beholding  around  them  vices  in  the  ha- 
bits of  mankind  which  they  knew  not  how  to  amend,  and 
mysteries  in  the  erder  of  nature  and  of  providence  which 
they  knew  not  how  to  unravel,  began  to  despair  of  the  cause 
of  truth,  and  of  the  reformation  of  the  world.  What  the 
simple  and  unaided  powers  of  human  understanding  could 
not  discern  any  adequate  and  certain  means  of  effecting,  has 
been  accomplished  by  the  luminous  evidence,  and  the  pow- 
erful influence  of  divine  revelation.  Doctrines,  at  least 
claiming  to  be  derived  from  this  source,  have  banished  from 
the  greater  portion  of  the  earth  the  gross  idolatry  in  which 
the  ancient  nations  were  sunk ;  and  raised  the  general  raor- 


71 

als  of  the  world  to  a  much  higher  and  purer  standard.  No 
where  do  we  now  behold  altars  or  consecrated  groves,  rear- 
ed to  such  divinities  as  Moloch  or  Saturn,  as  Astarte',  or  the 
Cyprian  Venus.  Every  where  we  find  purer  and  sublimer 
ideas  of  the  divine  nature,  and  of  that  worship  of  the  heart 
which  ought  to  be  paid  to  God.  Christianity  has  extended 
a  salutary  influence  even  among  many  tribes  of  the  human 
race  who  have  not  yet  embraced  her  holy  doctrines,  and 
shed  some  rays  of  a  divine  light  into  the  darkness  which  still 
rests  upon  the  pagan  nations,  which  we  trust,  will  gradually 
increase,  till  at  length  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  shall  illumi- 
nate the  whole  earth. 

The  insufficiency  of  reason  to  correct  the  moral  depravi- 
ty of  the  world  will  appear  with  irresistible  evidence  to  those 
who  duly  consider  its  defect  of  certainty,  its  defect  of  au- 
thority,  and  its  defect  of  motives.  Its  defect  of  certainty. 
Reason  can  proceed  but  a  small  distance  with  any  certainty, 
in  investigating  moral  and  divine  truth,  beyond  those  obvi- 
ous, simple,  and  almost  intuitive  dictates  of  the  mind  which 
are  common  to  all  mankind.  And,  in  a  corrupted  state  of 
manners,  experience  demonstrates  that  even  these  plain  and 
natural  dictates  may  easily  be  brought  into  doubt  by  the  so- 
phistry of  the  heart,  when  they  oppose  its  inclinations  and 
pleasures.  But  if  the  principles  and  laws  of  duty,  and  of 
divine  truth,  were  much  more  clear  and  precise  than  they 
are,  still  reason  is  wanting  in  the  necessary  authority  to  en 


72 

force  them  on  the  hearts  of  men,  and  give  them  effect  in  prac- 
tice.    This  authority,  in  order  to  overcome   the  powerful 
temptations  to  sinfjil  indulgence  which  are  every  moment 
acting  with  a  dangerous  influence  on  a  heart  already  yield- 
ing to  them,  should  be  nothing  less  than  the  acknowledged 
command  of  the  supreme  Legislator  and  Judge  of  the  uni- 
verse which  would  preclude  cavil  and  doubt,  sanctioned  by 
a  power  to  which  no  resistance  can  be  opposed,  and  direct- 
ed by  a  justice  which  cannot  be  turned  aside  from  its  sure 
and  awful  course.     When  a  man  is  accountable  only  to  him- 
self, feeble  indeed  is  the  voice  of  conscience,  or  of  reason 
on  one  side,  when  his  self-love,  or  his  passions  plead  on  the 
other.     And  finally,  the  motives  to  virtue  which  reason  has 
it  in  her  power  to  propose,  the  rewards  for  its  self-denials, 
the  encouragements  in  its  conflicts,  the  supports  under  its 
various  trials   and  temptations,   are   weak   and   ineflScient. 
Does  she  propose  the  pure  pleasures  of  virtue  ?  But  in  order 
to  relish  them,  you  must  be  already  virtuous.     Can  their 
calm  and  innocent  delights  be  set  against  the  ardent  and  tur- 
bulent enjoyments  of  vice?    Can  reason  demonstrate  that 
virtue  would  be  eventually  its  own  reward   even   in   this 
world  ?    Yet  you  arrive  at  this  conclusion  by  such  a  tedious 
circuit,  and  it  is  incumbered  by  so  many  modifications  and 
exceptions,  that  seldom  can  this  refined  speculation  combat 
the  force  of  a  present  and  importunate  passion.     But  if  vir- 
tue is  unfortunate,  as  it  often  is,  if  it  must  often  forego  in- 
terest, power,  favour,  in  its  adherence  to  duty ;  what  reward 


73 

is  there  to  indemnify  it  for  its  sacrifices  ?  What  authority  to 
overawe,  and  restrain  it  from  yielding  to  the  profitable  temp- 
tation? No;  the  awful  majesty  of  God,  the  apprehensions 
of  his  supreme  judgment,  the  eternal  retributions  of  virtue 
and  of  vice  in  a  future  state  of  existence,  which  religion  sets 
before  the  mind,  will  ever  be  found  necessary,  and  are  no 
more  than  sufficient  to  combat  the  corrupt  influence  of  the 
heart,  and  of  the  world.  The  impotence  of  reason,  therefore, 
to  cure  the  infinite  errors  of  the  human  mind,  the  idolatries, 
the  superstitions,  the  vices  of  mankind,  appears  from  every 
aspect  in  which  the  subject  presents  itself  to  our  view,  and 
justifies  the  conclusion  we  have  inferred  from  it  f  the  neces- 
sity of  a  new  revelation  to  restore  to  the  earth  the  truth 
which  it  had  lost,  and  to  redeem  it  from  evils  which  the  or- 
dinary powers  of  human  reason  had  become  unable  to  correct. 

This  conclusion  is  justified  by  another  most  important  and 
interesting  fact.  Man  is  evidently  a  guilty  being :  he  has 
violated  the  moral  law  of  his  nature,  and  incurred  the  right- 
eous displeasure  of  his  Creator,  and  fhe  in  fliction  of  all  the 
dreadful  penalties  with  which  the  supreme  lawgiver  has 
thought  it  necessary  to  guard  his  law.  These  penalties, 
which  are  not  arbitrary  in  their  nature,  but  are  the  decrees  of 
infinite  wisdom  and  justice,  do  not  depend  merel>  on  the 
will  of  the  legislator,  probably  (hey  do  not  depend  even  on 
infinite  goodness,  to  inflict  or  dispense  with  them  at  its  plea- 

to 


74 

sure.  Every  attribute  of  the  Deity  is  as  necessary  in  its  na- 
ture and  its  claims  as  the  divine  existence.  Eternal  justice, 
therefore,  cannot  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  forego  the  punish- 
ment  of  guilt.  This  is  the  ardent  and  terrible  dictate  of  a 
convinced  conscience,  not  less  than  the  calm  and  delibe- 
rate conclusion  of  reason.  But,  how  shall  the  claims  of  infi- 
nite justice  be  reconciled  with  the  claims  of  infinite  mer- 
cy ?  How  shall  the  inviolable  justice  of  the  law  of 
eternal  truth  and  holiness  be  satisfied,  in  consistency  with 
the  forgiveness  and  salvation  of  the  sinner  ?  In  what  way 
may  a  sinful  mortal  reasonably  hope  to  approach  his  ofiend- 
ed  Maker?  How  shall  the  heirs  of  death  regain  eternal  life? 
These  are  inquiries  to  which  the  weakness  of  human  under- 
standing can  return  no  satisfactory  answer ;  and  the  dying 
sinner,  under  the  guidance  of  reason  only,  must  be  over- 
whelmed with  the  most  distressing  perplexities  and  doubts, 
or  abandoned  to  the  most  horrible  despair.  These  are 
doubts  which  God  only  can  resolve  ;  fears  which  the  spirit 
of  inspiration  only  can  calm,  by  drawing  aside  the  deep  veil 
which  conceals  eternity  from  our  view,  and  exhibiting  to  our 
faith  a  complete  oblation  for  the  sins  of  the  world.  Here  we 
behold  new  proofs  of  the  necessity  of  a  divine  revelation,  new 
causes  to  invite,  and  justify  the  interposition  of  our  heavenly 
Father,  in  behalf  of  his  miserable,  though  offending  children. 

And  is  not  the  gospel  such  a  remedy  as  we  needed,  such 
a  revelation  as  is  calculated  to  solve  all  the  doubts,  and  tran- 


75 

quillize  all  the  apprehensions  of  penitent  guilt  ?  In  it  you  be- 
hold the  divine  justice,  and  the  divine  mercy  harmoniously 
combined.  In  it  you  behold  the  divine  law  magnified  and 
made  honourable^  by  an  all-availing  atonement  for  the  offen- 
ces of  the  whole  wwld.  In  it  you  behold  life  and  immor- 
tality brought  to  light,  and  a  glorious  channel  opened  in 
which  the  boundless  current  of  divine  mercy  can  freely  flow 
to  mankind.  Where  reason  and  philosophy  were  silent,  or 
constrained  to  confess  their  impotence,  we  behold  revela- 
tion announcing  her  glad  tidings,  and  triumphing  in  the  hap- 
piness of  her  children,  and  of  the  world. 

EVIDENCES    OF  UEVE«jATIOX.       NECESSITY  OF  MIRACLES. 
MR.  HUMe's  celebrated  OBJECTION  TO  MIRACLES. 

If  the  necessity  of  some  interposition  by  heaven,  in  order 
to  recal  mankind  from  the  monstrous  errors  of  idolatry,  to 
make  known  to  them  the  perfect  law  of  their  duty,  and  to 
enforce  it  by  adequate  sanctions,  is  so  evident,  as  has  been 
shown  in  the  preceeding  lectures,  this  necessity  affords  a 
presumption  in  favour  of  revelation.  And  if  any  revelation 
be  admitted  to  be  either  necessary  or  probable,  no  doubt  can 
be  entertained  of  the  superior  claims  of  Christianity  above 
every  pretence  which  has  ever  been  set  in  opposition  to  it. 
This  is  admitted  by  its  enemies  themselves ;  and  must  be 
admitted  by  every  candid  and  reflecting  inquirer  who  con- 
siders the  purity  of  its  doctrines,  the  spirituality  of  its  wor- 


7& 

ship,  the  simplicity  and  excellence  of  the  principle  which  it 
lays  at  the  foundation  of  its  moral  system,*  its  tendency  to 
universal  huppiness,  the  grandeur  of  the  prospects  which  it 
opens  into  the  eternal  world,  and  the  sublime  conceptions 
which  it  every  where  imparts  of  the  divine  nature. 

But  the  truth  of  Christianity  does  not  rest  on  the  absolute 
perfection  of  its  doctrines,  of  which  the  frailty  of  human  rea- 
son is  very  incompetent  to  judge ;  nor  on  our  conclusions 
concerning  what  ought  reasonably  to  be  expected  of  the  in- 
finite benignity  and  goodness  of  our  heavenly  Father,  in  be- 
half of  his  erring  and  miserable  creatures  :  conclusions  in 
which  we  often  depart  widely  from  the  actual  rule  of  the  di- 
vine government;  but  it  rests  on  such  evidences  as  every 
man  of  a  sound  mind  who  honestly  applies  his  understand- 
ing to  the  subject,  is  capable  to  judge  of;  evidences  which 
propose  themselves  directly  to  the  senses,  or  arise  out  of  the 
known  and  immutable  laws  of  human  naturco 

Accordingly  they  may  be  arranged  under  two  heads :  the 
positive  and  direct,  which  are  addressed  immediately  to  the 
senses ;  and  the  collateral,  or  presumptive,  which  arise  out 
of  a  just  consideration  of  the  laws  of  human  nature  relative- 
ly to  this  subject.  Of  the  former  kind  are  miracles  and  the 
fulfilment  of  prophecy.     Of  the  latter,  are  those  conclusions 

*  The  love  of  God  and  the  lore  of  maa. 


11 

which  are  justly  drawn  from  the  excellence  and  peculiarity 
of  character  of  the  author  of  Christianity,  from  the  humility 
of  the  instruments  employed  to  promulgate  the  gospel  to  man- 
kind, compared  with  the  sublimity  and  perfection  of  the 
doctrines  which  they  preached ;  from  its  rapid  and  exten- 
sive progress,  and  the  important  moral  changes  which  it  has 
produced  in  the  world ;  and  from  many  other  similar  facts 
which  cannot  be  satisfactorily  accounted  for  on  the  ordinary 
principles  of  human  nature,  or  of  human  action ;  and  which, 
therefore,  imply  a  divine  agency  and  direction.  The  for- 
mer, when  fairly  attended  to,  do,  in  each  particular  case, 
carry  with  them  entire  conviction  of  the  immediate  interposi- 
tion of  God ;  for  none  but  God  can  operate  a  miracle,  or  foretel 
with  minute  accuracy,  future  and  distant  events.  The  latter 
though,  singly  taken,  they  do  not  amount  to  absolute  proof, 
yet  collectively,  produce  the  highest  degree  of  probabililyo 

By  certain  writers  every  pretence  to  miracles  becomes  im- 
mediately suspected,  and  is  deemed  a  sufficient  reason  for 
not  entering  farther  into  an  examination  of  the  evidences  of 
revelation.  This  is,  in  effect,  declaring  it  to  be  impossible 
for  God  to  communicate  himself  by  any  revelation  of  his 
will  to  mankind.  For  if  he  ever  deigns  to  make  such  com- 
munication, it  can  only  be  made  immediately  by  himself,  or 
by  inspired  men,  who  speak  as  the  organs  of  his  Holy  Spi- 
rit. If  it  be  made  immediately  by  himself,  either  by  meanK 
pf  a  divine  voice  from  heaven,  or  by  any  supernatural  im- 


78 

pression  on  the  senses,  such  a  revelation  must  be  itself  one 
of  the  greatest  ot  miracles.  If  holy  men  speak  as  they  are  in- 
spired by  the  Holy  Ghost,  can  their  testimony  be  received 
with  a  rational  faith,  unless  it  be  accompanied  bj^  such  works, 
or  such  clear  predictions  of  future  events,  above  the  power, 
and  beyond  the  foresight  of  man,  as  will  demonstrate  that  it 
is  God  who  speaks  by  them  ?  In  no  other  way  can  a  divine 
mission  be  authenticated.  I  repeat  it  then,  if  it  is  reasona- 
ble to  expect  a  revelation  from  God  in  any  circumstances  of 
the  world;  if  a  revelation  is  not  impossible,  or  in  the 
highest  degree,  improbable ;  miracles  are  not  only  not  in- 
credible, but  necessary.  No  revelation  can  found  any  just 
claim  to  the  belief  of  mankind,  on  any  other  ground  in  the 
first  instance,  than  such  supernatural  and  miraculous  opera- 
tions as  the  power  of  God  onlj  can  effect ;  or  such  clear 
predictions,  as  none  but  an  omniscient  spirit,  who  foresees 
the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  has  laid  the  whole  train  of 
causes  and  events  in  the  universe,  could  impart  to  the  hu- 
man mind.  If  then,  the  christian  system  contains  a  real 
communication  to  mankind  from  the  infinite  fountain  of  truth, 
it  must  have  been  announced  under  the  seal  of  great  and  nu- 
merous miracles,  for  prophecy  itself  is  a  species  of  miracle. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  we  possess  satisfactory  evidence  that 
such  miracles  were  wrought  at  the  promulgation  of  the  gos- 
pel, we  ought  to  entertain  no  doubt  of  its  being  the  word  of 
God ;  since  it  comes  to  us  vouched  by  the  seal  of  God.  For 
what  is  a  miracle  ?    A  proper  understanding  of  this  term 


79 

should  lie  at  the  foundation  of  our  present  inquiry.  It  is 
such  an  inversion,  or  suspension  of  the  ordinary  laws  of  na- 
ture as  can  be  reasonably  ascribed  only  to  him  by  whom 
those  laws  were  originally  ordained.  And  whenever  he  con- 
descends to  work  a  miracle,  the  operation  of  his  al might/ 
power  must  be  regarded,  by  every  rational  mind,  as  the 
sanction  and  seal  of  truth. 

In  exhibiting  the  direct  and  positive  evidence  of  Christi- 
anity, I  shall,  in  the  first  place,  treat  of  the  evidence  of  mi- 
racles ;  and  afterwards  of  that  derived  from  prophecy. 

To  the  apostles,  the  miracles  of  our  blessed  Lord  were 
immediate  objects  of  sense :  to  us,  they  come  through  the 
medium  of  human  testimony ;  but  testimony  of  such  a  kind, 
and  confirmed  by  so  many,  and  such  extraordinary  circum- 
stances accompanying,  or  following  the  miracles  themselves, 
and  dependent  upon  them,  that  no  facts,  perhaps,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  have  ever  descended  to  posterity  vouched 
by  such  a  weight  of  moral  evidence.  They  are  attested  by 
numerous  witnesses  of  the  soundest  judgment,  and  the  most 
unsuspected  integrity :  by  men  whose  writings  evidently  de- 
monstrate that  they  were  at  the  greatest  distance  from  that 
weakness  of  mind  on  the  one  hand,  which  would  render  them 
liable  to  be  deceived  themselves ;  and,  on  the  other,  from 
that  ardent  enthusiasm,  or  that  knavery  of  character,  which 
would  incline  them  to  pass  a  deception  upon  others  for  the 


80 

sake  of  obtaining  credit  to  their  own  visions :  by  men  who 
without  any  motives  of  interest  or  of  honour,  and  even  in 
the  certain  prospect  of  disgrace  and  poverty,  of  arduous  and 
incessant  labours,  of  continual  dangers  and  persecutions, 
and  at  length  of  death  itself  in  the  most  formidable  shapes, 
devoted  themselves  to  announce  this  miraculous  history  to 
the  world :  by  men,  I  add,  whose  original  prepossessions 
were  all  opposed  to  the  character  which  their  Master  assum- 
ed, and  the  doctrines  which  he  taught,  and  who,  after  a  long 
time,  yielded  those  prejudices  only  to  the  force  of  convic- 
tion operated  by  repeated  miracles ;  and,  finally,  by  men 
who,  in  the  end,  conquered  the  world,  and  overturned  all 
its  ancient  ideas,  manners,  institutions,  all  the  pride  of 
its  philosophy,  and  all  the  self-sufficiency  of  human  rea- 
son, by  the  power  with  which  they  themselves  were  en- 
dued of  operating  miracles  similar  to  those  which  had 
subdued  their  own  assent.  These  facts,  afford,  it  seems  to 
me,  the  strongest  confirmation  of  the  miraculous  history  of 
the  gospel,  and  of  the  wisdom,  the  integrity,  and  credibili- 
ty of  those  holy  and  chosen  witnesses  by  whom  God  has 
been  pleased  to  convey  it  down  to  us. 

But  we  are  met  at  our  very  entrance  upon  this  subject 
with  a  formidable  objection  which  it  is  necessary  in  the  first 
place  to  remove,  before  the  most  credible  testimony  in 
favour  of  the  reality  of  the  miracles  of  our  Saviour,  willbe 
admitted  by  those  who  have  undertaken  to  deny  the  authorl- 


81 

iy  t»f  revelation.  The  objection  may  be  considered  in  a 
speculative,  and  in  a  practical  view.  In  the  former,  the  sum 
of  it  is :  that  the  plans  of  infinite  wisdom  are  immutable  ;  for 
otherwise,  they  would  not  be  perfect.  God  himself,  there- 
fore, cannot  change  the  order  of  nature,  still  less  can  he  allow 
a  feeble  mortal,  for  any  purposes  whatever,  to  change  it,  in- 
asmuch as  it  has  been  established  by  his  own  most  perfect 
wisdom.  I  answer,  that  the  plans  of  divine  intelligence  must 
be  immutable,  as  long  as  the  reasons  on  which  they  were 
originally  arranged  remain  the  same.  But  if  those  reasons 
are  changed,  may  they  not  induce  a  proportionable  alteration 
in  the  order  of  providence  ?  Inasmuch  then,  as  the  existence 
and  the  whole  system  of  this  world,  bear  a  relation  to  the 
moral  state  of  man,  if  man  has  criminally  changed  his  original 
state,  and  although  created  in  innocence,  has  fallen  into  sin, 
although  created  immortal  has  become  liable  to  death,  can 
we  pronounce  it  unworthy  the  goodness,  or  the  wisdom  of 
God,  to  aflford  his  creature,  humbled  and  conscious  of  guilt, 
the  hope  of  mercy,  and  to  confirm  that  precious  hope  by 
such  visible  interpositions  of  divine  power  as  leave  the  peni- 
tent sinner  no  room  to  doubt  but  that  it  is  God  himself  who 
is  the  author  of  his  consolation  ? 

The  second  view  in  which  this  objection  has  been  present- 
ed is  less  speculative.  It  is  the  celebrated  argument  ascribed 
to  tlie  ingenuity  of  Mr.  Hume,  although,  it  is  probable  of 
much  earlier  origin,  and  which  has  exercised  the  talents  of 

11 


82 

several  able  and  judicious  writers  to  refute  its  sophistry.*  I 
think  I  shall  weaken  nothing  of  its  force  by  the  following 
statement  ;  All  our  knowledge  of  natural  things  we  derive 
solely  from  experience.  And  the  only  rational  ground  of 
our  belief  of  what  has  ever  happenedf  or  what  can  happen  in 
the  world,  is  our  own  experience  of  the  regular  and  constant 
course  of  nature.  Men  may  impose  upon  us  by  false  testi- 
mony, or  they  may  be  deceived  themselves ;  but  nature  never 
changes.  Inasmuch  then,  as  we  have  had  no  experience  of 
any  miraculous  changes  in  the  order  of  the  world,  it  is  un- 
reasonable to  believe  that  any  such  have  ever  taken  place, 
whatever  may  be  the  number,  or  the  character  of  the  wit- 
nesses by  whom  they  have  been  attested.  If  the  principle 
of  this  objection  is  found  to  be  false,  the  whole  objection 
must  fall  to  the  ground  with  it.  If  it  will  not  hold  in  its  ap- 
plication universally  toother  subjects,  it  is  contrary  to  all 
just  reasoning  to  admit  its  validity  only  against  the  miracles 
of  the  gospel.  Let  us  then  try  its  application  in  other 
cases :  let  us  follow  it  to  its  ultimate  consequences ;  these 
will  be  found  suflScient  to  destroy  it.  It  leads  to  atheism ; 
acted  upon  in  its  full  extent  it  would  resist  all  improvements 
in  science ;  it  will  be  found,  in  opposing  the  moral  to  the 
physical  phenomena  of  nature,  to  refute  itself.     At  least  the 


*  Particularly  Dr.  Campbell  in  liis  treatise  on  miracles.  Bishop  Watson  in  hif 
third  letter  to  Mr.  Gibbon,  having  introdued  the  subject,  appears  to  me  to  have, 
in  a  few  sentences,  effectually  overturned  the  principle  on  which  the  whole  objec 
tion  rests. 


83 

laoral  phenomena  will  conclude  as  strongly  in  favour  of  the 
miracles  of  the  gospel  as  the  physical,  admitting  the  justness 
of  the  principle,  would  seem  to  contradict  them. 

I  return  back  on  these  ideas.  And  in  the  first  place,  it 
leads  to  atheism.  For,  if  our  own  experience  is  the  sole 
and  exclusive  ground  of  judging  of  whatever  is  credible  in 
the  physical  history  of  the  world,  it  is  unreasonable  to  be- 
lieve that  this  globe  ever  had  a  beginning,  or  that  it  will  ever 
perish.  It  must  always  have  existed,  and  must  always  con- 
tinue to  exist  in  the  same  state  in  which  we  now  behold  it. 
There  can  be  no  future  condition  of  existence  for  human  na- 
ture, no  future  judgment,  no  future  retribution  to  the  righte- 
ous and  the  wicked.  For  each  of  these  states  implies  a 
condition  of  things,  such  as  has  never  come  under  our  ob- 
servation, or  been  the  subject  of  our  experience.  There 
is,  on  this  supposition,  no  foundation  for  religion.  The  or- 
der of  the  world  must  be  eternal,  immutable,  necessary ;  and 
can  have  no  dependence  on  a  creating  and  intelligent  cause. 
We  must  embrace  the  philosophical  absurdity  of  an  eternal 
succession  of  mutable  and  perishing  beings  ;  and  are  driven 
to  the  impious  alternative  of  believing  that  there  is  no  God  » 
or,  that  the  universe  itself  is  God.^ 


*  This  tenet  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy  has  always  been  regarded  by  clirrg- 
tiang  as  only  a  modification  of  atlieisni 


84 

These  consequences  are  deduced  so  obviously  from  the 
principle  of  Mr.  Hume,  Ihat  it  is  not  a  little  surprising  that 
they  have  not  been  more  frequently  remarked.  Scarcely, 
indeed,  have  they  been  observed  by  any  writer  who  has 
fallen  in  my  way,  except  the  learned  and  ingenious  Dr.  Al- 
lix,  in  his  reflections  on  the  books  of  the  sacred  scripturesA^ 
Yet  if  they  are  fairly  and  legitimately  drawn,  they  must  be 
decisiv^e  against  the  principle  in  the  opinion  of  every  pious 
and  virtuous  man. 

Another  consequence  of  this  doctrine,  though  not  charge- 
able with  impiety  like  the  former,  equally  demonstrates  its  ab- 
surdity. It  would  arrest  all  great  improvements  in  science. 
When  the  effects  of  the  electric  or  magnetic  influence,  for 
example,  were  first  discovered,  how  ought  all  philosophers, 
according  to  this  principle,  to  have  treated  the  history  of 
their  phenomena  ?  Precisely  as  infidels  have  treated  the 
miraculous  history  of  the  gospel  :  rejected  it  without  exam- 
ination, as  absurd  and  impossible,  because  contrary  to  their 
experience.  Do  you  say,  they  have  it  in  their  power  to 
repeat  the  experiments  by  which  those  new  properties  in 
nature  were  originally  discovered.  But  if  the  principle 
which  we  combat  is  just,  what  motive  could  a  philosopher 


*  This  work  of  Dr.  Allix,  a  celebrated  French  refugee,  was  published  in'London 
in  the  year  1683,  which  sufRciently  demonstrates  that  the  objection  of  Mr.  Hume 
to  the  miracles  of  the  gospel  is  not  novel  ;  but  has  only  been  set  in  a  new  light; 
and  urged  with  more  plausibility  by  that  ingenius  writer. 


85 

have  for  repeating  these  experiments,  since  his  own  past  ex- 
perience of  the  course  of  nature  is  the  sole  criterion  of  what- 
ever is  credible.  And  whence  should  the  greater  portion 
of  mankind  derive  their  knowledge  who  possess  neither  the 
skill,  nor  the  means  requisite  to  make  the  necessary  experi- 
ments, if  thej  are  not  to  rely  for  the  truth  of  new  facts  in 
science,  and  facts  the  most  remote  from  the  analogy  of  their 
own  experience,  upon  the  testimony  of  others  ?  Must  not 
the  progress  of  science  be  arrested  almost  at  its  commence- 
ment ? 

Let  us  take  another  example  in  which  no  experiment  can 
possibly  be  applied  to  verify  the  testimony  of  the  narrators 
with  regard  to  facts  the  most  certain  in  nature.  The  inha- 
bitants of  a  torrid  climate  never  can  have  the  effects  of  frost 
presented  to  their  senses.  Congelation  is  as  great  a  myste- 
ry to  them,  as  any  mystery  or  miracle  of  the  christian  reli- 
gion. According  to  this  favourite  maxim  of  infidelity,  then, 
they  ought  to  refuse  all  credit  to  the  fact :  and  the  king  of 
Siam  acted  according  to  the  principles  of  sound  wisdom  in 
punishing  the  Dutch  navigator  for  insulting  his  understand- 
ing by  incredible  stories,  who  assured  him,  that,  in  Holland, 
water  became  so  hard  during  part  of  the  year,  that  it  bore 
horses  and  carriages  upon  its  surface.  If  testimony  were, 
under  no  circumstances,  sufficient  to  vouch  to  us  facts  which 
not  only  are  not  conformable,  but  which,  in  many  instances, 
are  contrary,  to  all  our  past  experience,  science  must  be 


86 

circumscribed  within  a  very  narrow  sphere.  This  conse- 
quence was  certainly  not  adverted  to  by  the  ingenious  author 
who  invented,  or  who  gave  its  present  form  to  the  principle 
against  which  we  contend.  It  was  aimed  solely  against  the 
miracles  of  the  sacred  scriptures.  But  when  we  are  testing 
the  merit  of  a  principle,  if  it  is  not  found  to  hold  universally, 
or  coextensively  with  the  latitude  of  its  terms,  it  cannot  fur- 
nish the  ground  of  any  certain  conclusions.  For,  by  what 
rule  shall  we  apply  it  only  to  the  facts  of  religion,  when  it  is 
false  in  its  application  to  the  facts  of  science  ?  Miracles  then, 
as  well  as  other  extraordinary  facts  in  nature,  are  suscepti- 
ble of  proof  from  testimony.  The  only  subject  of  inquiry  is, 
the  competence  and  integrity  of  the  witnesses  :  the  sound- 
ness of  their  judgment,  the  accuracy  of  their  observation, 
the  fidelity  of  their  narration.  In  all  these  respects  the  dis- 
ciples of  our  blessed  Saviour,  the  witnesses  of  his  miracles 
will  be  found  to  possess  a  decided  superiority  over  the  wit- 
nesses of  any  other  facts  recorded  in  history.  Their  wri- 
tings demonstrate  their  wisdom  ;  their  long  intimacy  with 
their  Master  is  sufficient  to  gives  us  confidence  in  the  accu- 
racy of  their  observation  ;  their  labours,  their  sacrifices, 
their  deaths,  attest  their  sincerity,  and  the  fidelity  of  their 
narration.* 

I  maintain,  in  the  last  place,  that  this  celebrated  argu- 
ment, drawn  from  our  experience  of  the  uniformity  of  nature 

*-  These  topics  will  hereafter  be  more  amply  illustrated. 


sr 

refutes  itself.  For,  if  the  physical  course  of  nature,  on 
which  the  argument  rests,  is  found  to  be  stable  and  uniform, 
the  moral  order  of  things  appears  to  be  not  less  steady  and 
regular.  If  the  former  of  these  facls  opposes,  upon  Mr. 
Hume's  principle,  our  reception  of  the  miraculous  history  of 
the  gospel ;  the  latter,  upon  the  same  ground,  forbids  the  re- 
jection of  that  history,  if,  by  rejecting  it,  we  must  contradict 
aU  the  moral  phenomena  of  human  nature.  Admitting  then, 
what  can  hardly  be  denied  by  the  bitterest  enemies  of  Chris- 
tianity, that  the  apostles  and  evangelists  were  men  of  the 
soundest  understandings,*  and  the  most  upright  hearts,  it  is 
contrary  to  all  that  we  know  of  the  motives  of  human  con- 
duct, thal^  for  the  sake  of  propagating  a  most  improbable, 
.and  to  them,  unprofitable  imposture,  they  should  voluntrai- 
ly  submit  to  incessant  toils  and  extreme  sufferings;  they 
should  abandon  all  that  is  usually  accounted  most  dear  to  the 
human  heart,  and  march  with  intrepidity  through  perpetual 
persecutions  to  certain  death  inflicted  in  the  most  excruciat- 
ing and  dreadful^  forms.  Their  writings,  which  are  always 
rational  in  their  doctrines,  simple  in  their  style,  and  calm  and 
judicious  in  their  manner  of  address,  exempt  them  from  eve- 
ry charge  of  enthusiasm ;  yet,  renouncing  all  the  early  pre- 
judices of  their  nation,  in  which  they  had  been  educated, 


*  The  perfection  of  that  systeoi  of  pitty  and  morals  published  by  these  humble 
fishermen,  so  far  excelling  the  philosophy  of  their  age,  demonstratns  that,  if  they 
were  not  inspired  from  above,  they  must  have  possessed  a  degree  of  wisdom  and 
iindersfaadingfar  surpassing  irljr.lever  antiquity  has  producfl  bpfide.-, 


88 

and  all  the  hopes  which  they  had  originally  conceived  from 
a  royal  and  triumphant  Messiah,  which  might  have  inflam- 
ed the  zeal  of  enthusiastic  minds,  do  we  not  see  them,  for  a 
suffering  Master,  encounter  every  actual  evil,  and  every 
possible  hazard  ?  If  then,  we  should  suppose,  according  to 
the  spirit  of  this  objection,  that  the  apostles,  who  expected 
no  recompense  in  this  world,  could  have  acted  from  any 
other  motive  than  a  deep  conviction  of  the  miraculous  pow- 
er, and  the  divine  mission  of  Jesus  Christ,  would  we  not 
be  involved  in  contradictions  to  the  moral  order  of  things ; 
that  is,  to  all  the  ordinary  principles  of  conduct  among  men 
which  have  ever  occurred  to  our  experience,  not  less  won- 
derful, and  out  of  the  course  of  nature,  than  were  the  mira- 
cles themselves  in  the  attestation  of  which  these  wise  and  pi- 
ous men,  the  companions  and  witnesses  of  his  life,  made 
such  astonishing  and  almost  incredible  sacrifices  ? 

Thus  does  this  so  much  vaunted  objection  against  the  mi- 
racles of  the  gospel  refute  itself;  inasmuch  as,  in  its  appli- 
cation to  the  moral  order  of  things,  it  contradicts  the  conclu- 
sion which  the  enemies  of  religion  have  drawn  from  their 
physical  order.  And  this  consequence  ought  to  be  ad- 
mitted by  those  especially  who  have  most  earnestly  urg- 
ed this  objection  against  the  evangelic  history,  since, 
according  to  their  philosophic  system,  they  subject  the 
natural  and  the  moral  world  equally  to  the  laws  of  neces- 
sity.    I  repeat,  then,  that  it  is  not  by  the  nature  of  the  works 


g9 

ascribed  to  Christ  as  being  conformablej  or  contrary  to  our 
experience,  but  by  the  character  and  competence  of  the 
witnesses,  together  with  all  the  preparatory  and  attending 
circumstances  of  these  miracles,  and  their  consequences  up- 
on the  world,  that  the  question  of  their  truth  is  to  be  decided- 

THE  CREDIBILITY  OF  THE  WITNESSES  OF  THE  MIRACLES 
AND  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST. 

Let  US  then  enter  a  httle  more  particularly  into  the  char- 
acter of  the  witnesses  of  the  gospel,  the  circumstances  under 
which  its  miraculous  history  was  published  to  the  world,  and 
has  been  transmitted  to  us,  and  the  wonderful  consequences 
which  followed  its  publication.  A  brief  review  of  these  to- 
pics, while  it  will  confirm  the  answer  which  has  been  given 
to  the  objection  of  Mr.  Hume,  particularly  in  the  last  view 
which  we  have  taken  of  it,  will  serve,  at  the  same  time,  to 
strengthen  our  faith  in  the  evangelic  history,  both  by  the 
support  which  we  will  find  it  possesses  in  the  clearest  and 
most  unequivocal  laws  of  moral  evidence,  and  by  the  extra- 
ordinary effects  which  have  resulted  from  it,  which  plainly 
jequired  the  power  of  a  divine  cause  to  produce  them. 

As  it  has  been  shown  that  there  is  no  insuperable  objec- 
tion, arising  from  the  nature  of  miracles,  against  their  exist- 
ence, when  alleged  in  favour  of  a  divine  revelation;  and 

35  thev  have  been  demonstrated  even  to  be  necessary  proofs? 

1? 


90 

of  a  divine  mission,  if  God  should  ever  deign  to  reveal  hit 
will  in  any  extraordinary  manner  to  the  world,  the  credit  o£ 
the  miracles  which  are  said  to  have  been  wrought  in  confir- 
mation of  the  gospel  must  depend  primarily  on  the  credibili- 
ty of  the  witnesses  who  have  attested  them.  And,  when  this 
subject  is  fairly  and  candidly  examined,  not  only  will  these 
witnesses  be  found  entitled  to  the  highest  credit,  but  theip 
testimony  will  appear  calculated  almost  irresistibly  to  com- 
mand our  assent ;  with  so  many  circumstances  of  authority 
and  certainty  is  it  attended,  which  place  it  far  before  the 
evidence  by  which  any  other  facts  in  the  compass  of  univer- 
sal history  have  been  vouched. 

The  witnesses  of  extraordinary  facts  ought  to  be  men  of 
nnblemished  integrity,  and  of  clear  and  penetrating  discern- 
ment ;  unbiassed  by  any  motives  of  interest  which  might  be 
liable  to  blind  them  to  the  truth,  or  to  corrupt  the  purity  of 
their  testimony.  And  certainly  the  apostles  and  evangelists 
of  our  blessed  Lord  have  left  us,  in  their  writings,  their  dis- 
courses, and  their  conduct,  the  most  indubitable  proofs  of 
the  soundest  understanding,  of  the  sincerest  piety,  and  the 
most  disinterested  devotedness  to  the  best  interests  of  man- 
kind, which  would  render  it  impossible,  in  a  long  course  of 
intimacy  with  their  Master,  to  be  deceived  by  any  fictitious 
demonstrations  of  a  divine  power,  and  should  free  them  from 
every  suspicion  of  fabricating  a  history  to  impose  upon  the 
world. 


91 

They  were,  indeed,  plain,  unlettered  men,  called  from 
some  of  the  humblest  occupations  in  life  to  follow  Christ, 
and  to  be  the  heralds  of  his  grace  to  mankind.  But  this  cir- 
cumstance, instead  of  detracting  from  their  merit  as  witness- 
es of  the  miracles  of  our  Lord,  will,  when  rightly  consider- 
ed, give  additional  weight  to  their  testimony.  For,  when 
we  take  into  view  that  admirable  and  profound  wisdom,  that 
perfect  moral  code,  and  that  pure  and  sublime  theology, 
which  their  writings  contain,  so  far  superior  to  what  was  to 
be  expected  from  their  education  and  rank  in  life,  and  ex- 
celling whatever  has  appeared  on  these  subjects  in  the  sys- 
tems of  the  most  venerated  sages  of  the  pagan  world ;  may 
we  not  well  ask,  as  the  astonished  fellow  citizens  of  Jesus 
did  with  respect  to  him,  whence  had  these  men  this  wisdom, 
unless  it  were  given  them  from  above  ?  If  we  admit  that  this 
wisdom  was  imparted  to  them  immediately  by  God,  it  de- 
cides the  question  of  their  divine  mission.  If  we  say  it  was 
simply  the  effect  of  native  genius,  it  decides  their  competen- 
cy, in  point  of  understanding  and  judgment,  to  be  the  wit- 
nesses of  the  wonderful  history  of  our  Lord,  and  their  per- 
fect title  to  our  fullest  credit,  as  far  as  depends  on  accuracy 
of  observation,  and  the  judicious  discrimination  of  truth  from 
'Al  false  pretences  to  miraculous  powers. 

But  in  the  next  place,  their  writings  exhibit  also  the 
strongest  characters  of  sincerity  and  integrity.  We  discern 
in  them  no  appearance  of  that  art  which  is  necessary  to 


93 

cover  the  prentences  of  imposture,  but  an  undesigning  sim- 
plicity which  speaks  powerfully  to  the  heart.  Hardly  ever 
can  impostors  effectually  conceal  the  faulfs  of  their  own 
character  behind  the  disguises  of  hypocrisy.  But  in  the 
New-Testament,  we  discern  only  the  purest  precepts  of  mo- 
rality, and  the  noblest  sentiments  of  a  genuine  and  rational 
piety.  If  the  apostles  speak  from  their  hearts,  as  there  is 
every  appearance  that  they  do,  the  purity  of  their  doctrines, 
as  well  as  the  simplicity  of  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
conveyed  to  us,  are  calculated  to  impress  us  with  a  deep  con- 
viction of  their  integrity  and  uprightness,  not  less  than  of 
their  wisdom. 

Piety  and  sincerity  have  a  language  peculiar  to  them- 
selves ;  simple  and  unaffected,  equally  distant  from  the  tor- 
tuous art  of  imposture,  and  the  extravagances  of  enthusiasm. 
There  is  a  naivete'  which  runs  through  the  whole  narration 
of  the  evangelists,  and  bears  all  the  impressions  of  truth,  in- 
finitely remote  from  the  style  of  an  artificial  tale  made  up  by 
cunning  and  designing  men. 

This  conviction  will  be  greatly  strengthened  when  we 
take  into  our  view  the  circumstances  under  which  the  followers 
of  our  blessed  Lord  published  the  gospel,  and  its  miracu- 
lous history  to  the  world.  Their  disinterested  labours,  suf- 
ferings, and  sacrifices,  demonstrate  in  the  strongest  manner 
their  sincerity,  and  their  profound  persuasion  of  the  truth 


93 

and  the  importance  of  those  holy  doctrines  which  they 
taught,  ajid  those  astonishing  facts  which  they  published 
to  the  universe.  And  the  perfect  sincerity  and  persuasion 
of  men,  at  once  so  pious  and  so  wise,  who  were  so  capable 
of  discriminating  reality  from  pretence,  and  who  had  so 
many  opportunities  of  intimately  observing  the  works  which 
they  attest,  afford  to  the  candid  and  serious  inquirer,  the 
most  satisfactory  grounds  of  belief. 

Let  us  contemplate  the  disinterestedness  and  sufferings  of 
the  first  ministers  of  Christianity,  and  witnesses  of  the  mira- 
cles of  our  Saviour.  They  speak  a  powerful  language  to 
the  heart,  and  leave  us  no  room  to  question  the  sincerity  and 
(he  perfect  veracit}^  of  these  faithful  men.  It  is  true  that 
men,  impelled  by  a  bold  and  ardent  ambition,  or  inflamed  by 
the  hope  of  fortune,  or  of  glory,  may  sometimes  endure  wilh 
fortitude  the  greatest  sufferings,  or  encounter  with  firmness 
the  most  formidable  dangers.  But  without  the  prospects  of 
honour  or  emolument,  and  in  the  face  of  poverty  and  dis- 
grace, of  universal  obloquy  and  hatred,  of  the  fiercest  perse- 
cutions and  the  most  cruel  deaths,  voluntarily  to  undertake 
to  propagate  a  known  and  deliberate  imposture,  merely  for 
the  glory  of  a  Master  who  had  already  perished  by  an  igno- 
minious death,  and  from  whom,  of  consequence,  no  farther 
expectations  could  be  entertained  ;  and,  with  a  patience  and 
heroism  worthy  only  of  the  highest  virtue  an<l  the  noblest 
ends,  to  consent  to  be  the  ministers  of  falsehood,  deceit  and 


i 


94 

viilany,  is  contrary  to  all  the  known  principles  of  iiumau  ac- 
tion, and,  in  such  men  as  the  apostles,  is  utterly  incredible. 
Jesus  Christ  promised  to  his  disciples  no  rewards  in  the  exe- 
cution of  their  arduous  mission  but  such  as  should  take  place 
in  a  future  state  of  existence ;  of  which  they  could  have  no 
other  assurance  than  his  own  miracles.  If  then  they  made  such 
astonishing  sacrifices,  as  it  is  known  they  did  make,  from  no 
rational  motive,  with  no  prospect  of  recompense,  it  was  a 
solitary  phenomenon,  altogether  inexplicable  on  any  of  the 
ordinary  principles  of  conduct  among  men.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  they  were  governed  by  the  hope  of  future  and  celes- 
tial rewards,  their  belief  of  which  could  rest  only  on  their 
perfect  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  miracles  and  resurrec- 
tion of  the  Saviour,  what  stronger  evidence  could  we  demand 
of  the  reality  of  these  facts  ? 

Their  Master  not  only  promised  them  no  rewards,  but 
forewarned  them  that  they  should  suffer  in  his  cause  every 
evil  that  could  be  inflicted  by  the  hatred,  the  malice,  and  the 
power  of  men.  And  they  were  accordingly  exposed  to 
every  form  of  contumely,  pain  and  death.  They  were  load- 
ed with  chains,  thrust  into  dungeons,  lacerated  with  scourging, 
crucified,  sawn  asunder,  clothed  with  the  skins  of  wild  beasts 
and  exposed  to  be  hunted  by  dogs,  burnt  at  the  stake,  in- 
vested with  pitched  shirts,  to  which  when  fire  was  applied, 
they  were  used  as  torches  in  the  night  to  light  the  barbarous 


95 

sports  of  the  populace.*  These  terrors  were  sufficient,  oae 
would  think,  to  shake  the  constancy  of  integrity  itself;  but 
certainly,  more  than  suflScient  to  appal  hypocrisy  and  false- 
hood, or  even  the  least  doubtfulness  of  the  cause  in  which 
they  were  embarked.  But  by  no  fear  of  suffering,  nor  by 
any  hope  of  reprieve  could  these  good  men  be  moved  to  re- 
tract, or  to  mutilate  or  disguise,  any  part  of  the  history  of 
a  Master  who  was  dearer  to  them  than  their  own  lives.  If 
they  would  only  have  denied  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  they 
could  have  delivered  themselves  out  of  the  most  cruel  suf- 
ferings, which  wer«  often  such  that  we  can  hardly  concei\  e 
how  human  nature  could  support  them.  Yet  their  dying 
breath,  their  last  accents  were  still  used  to  confirm  their  un- 
wavering testimony.  And  among  such  numbers,  not  one 
was  found  to  falter.  What  can  mark  in  the  minds  of  men  a 
deeper  conviction  of  truth  ? 

A  consideration  which  gives  no  small  additional  weight 
to  the  argument  is,  that  all  the  original  prejudices  of  their  ed- 
ucation, and  of  national  pride  and  glory,  were  strongly  op- 


*  A  variety  of  passages  in  the  epistles  of  the  apo9tles,  and  in  the  history  oftheii 
acts  by  Saint  Luke,  give  us  this  representalion  of  their  extreme  sufferings,  which 
Js  confirmed  by  almost  all  the  Roman  writers  of  that  period  who  have  come  down 
to  us;  particularly  by  Suetonius,  Pliny,  Juvenal,  Martial,  Epictetus,  Marcus 
Aurelius,  and  Tacitus.  "  Their  sufferings  at  their  execution,  says  Tacitus,  were 
aggravated  by  insult  and  mockery ;  for  some  were  disguised  in  the  skins  of  wild 
beasts,  and  worried  to  death  by  dogs  j  some  were  crucified,  and  others  were 
wrapt  in  pitclied  shirts,  and  set  on  fire  when  the  day  wa?  closed,  thst  they  mhhr 
serve  as  lights  to  illuminate  the  sight  "" 


96  > 

posed  fo  the  character  in  which  their  Master  appeared,  and 
to  the  doctrines  which  they  were  afterwards  constrained  to 
preach.  Thej,  with  the  whole  nation  of  Israel,  expected  in 
the  Messiah  a  mightj  temporal  prince,  invested  with  the 
splendours  of  empire,  who  was  to  restore  the  kingdom  of 
David,  and  extend  its  dominion  over  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  in  which  his  followers  and  disciples  were  to  arrive  at 
the  highest  honours  and  distinctions.  When,  therefore,  they 
found  all  the  pre-possessions,  in  which  they  had  been  nurs- 
ed, and  which  had  been  cherished  by  their  country  for  ages, 
overthrown;  when  Jesus  informed  them  that  his  kingdom 
was  not  of  this  world,  a  doctrine  which  they  could  hardly 
be  made  to  understand,  and  thus  disappointed  all  their  most 
flattering  hopes ;  when,  instead  of  the  magnificent  prospects 
which  they  had  pictured  to  themselves,  he  set  before  them 
only  his  own  humble  fortunes,  and  his  approaching  death ; 
only  the  persecutions  to  which  they  should  be  exposed  in 
preaching  in  the  name  of  a  despised  Master,  what  could 
have  continued  to  attach  them  to  a  cause  so  different  in  evr 
ery  respect  from  what  they  had  conceived,  and  one  feippa- 
rently  so  desperate,  but  the  manifest  proofs  of  divinity 
which  attended  him,  but  those  wonderful  facts  before  their 
eyes,  which  conquered  their  prejudices,  and  compelled  their 
conviction  ?  They  could  not  believe  that  he  was  to  die  till 
they  saw  him  expire  ;  they  neither  believed,  nor  understood 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead  till  they  saw  him  restored  from 
the  tomb.    Even  then,  it  was  long,  through  the  astonish- 


or 

ment  of  their  minds,  before  they  could  give  full  credit  to 
their  own  senses.  They  conversed  with  him,  they  touched 
him,  they  thrust  their  hands  into  his  wounded  side.  They 
could  yield  such  powerful  prejudices,  supported  by  all  the 
strongest  passions  of  human  nature,  only  to  the  most  sensible 
demonstrations.  But  when  their  conviction  was  once  con- 
quered by  the  illustrious  displays  of  a  divine  power,  and 
nothing  but  the  most  illustrious  displays  of  such  a  power 
could  have  conquered  it,  in  opposition  to  every  interest  and 
every  prejudice  hitherto  cherished  by  them  with  the  great- 
est fondness,  then  they,  who  had  before  been  so  reluctant,  so 
unbelieving,  so  timid  in  the  cause  of  a  suffering  Master,  were 
ready  to  encounter  every  form  of  danger,  of  suflfering,  and  of 
death,  in  proclaiming  the  resurrection,  and  the  miraculous 
history  of  their  Lord.  Such  a  revolution  in  their  ideas  and 
their  conduct  must  have  proceeded,  as  they  declared  it  did, 
only  from  the  irresistible  manifestations  of  a  divine  power 
with  which  he  confirmed  his  doctrine,  and  demonstrated  his 
title  to  a  spiritual  and  heavenly  kingdom. 

It  may  be  said  that  fortitude  and  patience  in  enduring  suf- 
ferings, is  no  certain  proof  of  the  truth  of  any  system  of  prin- 
ciples ;  because  an  enthusiastic  miud  may  be  so  wound  up, 
as  to  dare  any  danger,  or  to  support  any  pain,  in  defenc  e  of 
its  favourite  opinions.  I  confess  that  voluntary  suffering  in 
i\ny  cause,  is  not  an  infallible  test  of  truth,  but  it  is  a  test  of 
^inceritif.     It  demonstrates  the  full  persuasion  of  the  soul  of 


98 

the  truth  of  the  facts  for  which  it  suffers.     This  is  all  that  i» 
necessary  to  command  our  assent  in  the  present  case.     The 
disciples  of  our  Lord  have  demonstrated,  by  this  infallible 
criterion,  their  full  conviction  of  the  reality  of  his  resurrec- 
tion, and  of  his  miraculous  operations.     These  were  objects 
of  the  senses  in  which  they  could  not  be  mistaken.     They 
were  men,  as  appears  from  their  writings,  of  the  soundest  un- 
derstandings, who  could  not,  therefore,  be  imposed  upon  in 
cases  so  palpable.     No  tincture  of  enthusiasm,  which  could 
warp  their  imagination,  appears  in  their  conduct,  or  in  that 
history  which  they  have  left  us  of  the  life  and  actions  of 
Christ.     Men  as  they  were,  of  sound  understandings  and  of 
rational  piety,  a  conviction  in  our  minds  of  the  sincerity  of 
their  declarations  is  ail  that  is  necessary  to  gain  for  them  full 
credence  to  the  miraculous  facts  which  they  relate.     There 
is  a  wide  difference  between  dying  in  attestation  of  a/acf, 
and  to  prove  our  adherence  to  an  opinion.     In  our  opinions 
we  may  err,  and  an  enthusiastic  mind  may  maintain  its  er- 
rors at  the  stake  with  no  less  ardour  than  it  would  adhere  to 
truth.     But  in  facts,  such  as  those  related  by  the  apostles 
and  disciples  of  our  Lord,  subjected  as  they  were  to  the  ex- 
amination of  all  the  senses,  and  for  so  long  a  time,  it  was  im- 
possible for  men  so  judicious,  so  honest,  and  so  faithful,  to 
be  deceived.      Their  sincerity  is  all  that  we  need  to  assure 
us  of  the  miracles  contained  in  the  evangelic  history.     And 
their  constant  readiness  to  seal  their  testimony  with  their 
blood  affords  the  strongest  proof  that  not  the  smallest  doubt 


99 

mingled  itself  with  their  perfect  knowledge  and  belief  of  the 
resurrection,  and  of  all  the  miraculous  works  of  their  Saviour, 
on  which  their  faith  of  his  divine  mission,  and  of  the  doc- 
liine  of  salvation  which  they  proclaimed  to  the  world,  was 
founded. 

If  the  preceding  reflections  are  just,  the  miracles  of  Christ 
are  confirmed  to  us  by  an  evidence  which  ought  to  command 
our  fullest  assent.  And  if  his  miracles  are  established,  the 
divinity  of  his  mission  and  of  his  gospel,  follows  as  a  neces- 
sary consequence.* 

Having  then,  in  the  first  place,  demonstrated  this  princi- 
ple, that  our  experience  of  the  uniformity  of  nature  does  not 
afford  any  solid  objection  against  miracles  performed  in  a 
cause  worthy  of  God  ;  we  have  seen,  in  the  next  place,  that 
if  any  supernatural  event  is  capable  of  being  confirmed  by 
human  testimony,  there  can  exist  no  reasonable  doubt  with 
regard  to  the  reality  of  the  miracles  of  the  gospel.  And  I 
must  again  repeat,  that  no  facts  in  the  compass  of  universal 
history  have  come  down  to  us  confirmed  by  such  variety, 
and  such  strength  of  evidence. 


*  Celsus,  the  most  ingenious  and  perhaps  the  bitterest  enemy  of  the  christians 
among  the  philosophers  of  that  age,  does  not  pretend  to  deny  the  miracles  ascrib- 
ed to  Jesus  Ciirist,  but  seems  disposed  to  impute  them  to  tlie  powers  of  magic. 
The  science  of  modern  times  will  never  admit  such  a  solution  of  miraculous  phe- 
nomena. 


100 

This  conclusion  will  be  strengthened  when  we  proceed 
to  consider  the  rapid  extension  of  the  gospel  over  the  most 
enlightened  nations  of  the  world,  who  were,  from  their  pride, 
their  prejudices,  their  learning,  their  civil  and  religious  in- 
stitutions, and  from  all  their  ideas  and  habits,  most  hostile 
to  the  spirit  of  our  holy  religion.  It  will  be  farther  confirm- 
ed hereafter,  when  we  proceed  to  explain  the  excellence  of 
the  gospel  itself,  and  to  show  how  worthy  it  is  of  the  origin 
which  it  claims,  and  how  far  superior  its  doctrines  are  to  any 
powers  of  invention  which  can  reasonably  be  ascribed  to 
men,  of  the  education  and  rank  in  life  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles,  supposing  them  not  to  be  inspired,  and  illuminated 
by  a  divine  spirit. 

THE    RAPID    EXTENSION    OF    THE    GOSPEL  AN  INFALLIBLE 
PROOF  OF  THE  REALITY  OP  ITS  MIRACLES. 

The  sudden  and  wide  diffusion  of  the  christian  religion, 
throughout  the  principal  nations  of  the  world,  although  it  is 
usually  placed  among  the  collateral  and  presumptive  eviden- 
ces of  the  truth  of  the  gospel  history,  may  reasonably  be 
considered  as  furnishing  a  strong  and  direct  proof  of  the  re- 
ality of  the  miracles  of  our  Saviour,  and  of  the  miraculous 
powers  with  which  the  apostles  themselves  were  endued. 
This  astonishing,  and,  indeed,  this  unparalleled  effect  was 
accomplished  by  publishing  the  miraculous  history  of  Christ, 
by  a  few  fishermen  of  Judea,  and  by  pretences,  at  least,  to 


101 

the  same  miraculous  powers  imparted  to  them  by  their  Mas- 
ter. And  can  it  reasonabl}'  be  believed  that  the  story  of 
miracles  performed  in  Judea,  a  remote  and  despised  corner 
of  the  world,  should  have  been  received  by  the  greatest  as 
well  as  the  most  barbarous  nations,  in  the  circumstances  in 
which  it  was  received,  and  followed  by  the  mighty  conse- 
quences which  actually  resulted  from  it,  unless  the  heralds 
who  published  it  had  been  able  to  confirm  their  testimony 
by  the  most  palpable  demonstrations  of  a  divine  power  ac- 
companying their  preaching  ?  On  no  other  ground  do  I  think 
we  can  propose  any  rational  solution  of  this  great  moral  phe- 
nomenon. 

Let  us  then  examine  the  greatness  of  the  effect,  and  com- 
pare it  with  the  circumstances  of  the  world  at  that  period, 
and  with  the  apparent  impotence  of  the  instruments  by 
which  it  was  produced,  and,  I  doubt  not,  this  conviction  will 
meet  us  with  almost  irresistible  force. 

We  learn  from  the  history  of  the  acts  of  the  apostles, 
which  contains,  however,  but  a  very  brief  and  partial  narra- 
tion of  their  transactions,  and  from  various  intimations  either 
more  direct  or  incidental,  given  in  the  epistles,  especially  of 
Saint  Paul,  that  the  gospel  had  spread,  within  a  very  few 
years  after  the  death  of  the  Saviour,  to  all  the  regions  of  the 
known  world,  and  in  every  country  had  made  numerous  con- 
verts.    This  representation  is  confirmed  by  the  Roman  wri- 


102 

ters  when  any  occasion  leads  them  to  mention  the  numbers 
of  Christians  in  particular  districts  of  the  empire.*    Tacitus, 
speaking  of  the  cruelties  exercised  by  Nero  upon  the  Chris- 
tians, under  the  pretence  of  their  having  set  fire  to  the  city, 
says,  "  at  first,  those  only  were  apprehended  who  confessed 
themselves  to  be  of  that  sect,  but,  through  their  means,  a 
vast  multitude  were  afterwards  discovered."     This  imperial 
villany  took  place  about  the  thirtieth  year  of  the  crucifixion ; 
in  which  short  period  the  gospel  had  extended  from  the  ex- 
tremities to  the  heart  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  a  vast  mul- 
tUude  of  its   disciples  were  already  found  in  the  capital. — 
About  forty  years  posterior  to  this  event,  Pliny,  writing  to 
the  emperor  Trajan  for  instructions  in  what  manner  to  treat 
the  Christians,  who  h^.d,  in  time  past,  been  mercilessly  drag- 
ged before  the  tribunals,  and  cruelly  punished,  represents  to 
him  that  so  prevalent  had  Christianity  become  in  his  province, 
which  consisted  of  Pontus  and  Bithynia  in  the  Lesser  Asia, 
that  the  superstition,  as  he  calls  it,  had  seized  not  only  the 
cities,  but  the  smaller  towns,  and  the  open  country.     The 
temples,  he  adds,  were  for  a  time,  almost  deserted,  the  sa- 
cred solemnities  intermitted,  and  victims  had  nearly  ceased 


*  It  is  true  that  the  early  Roman  writers  do  not  make  frequent  or  very  particu- 
lar mention  of  the  affairs  of  the  christians.  For  Christianity  springing  up  in  Ju- 
dea,  it  was  natural  for  foreigners  to  regard  them  as  a  sect  of  the  Jews,  on  which 
aecount  their  history,  in  its  origin,  would  be  little  understood,  and  attract  small 
attention  at  Rome.  But  wherever  their  external  circumstances  are  noticed  by 
Roman  authors,  they  are  found  to  correspond  with  the  accounts  given  of  them  id 
christian  records. 


103 

being  purchased.*  Justin  Martjr,  who  wrote  only  a  few 
years  after  Pliny,  declares,  "  there  is  not  a  nation  either  of 
Greek,  or  Barbarian,  or  any  other  name,  even  of  those  who 
wander  in  tribes  and  live  in  tents,  among  whom  prayers  and 
thanksgivings  are  not  offered  to  the  Father  and  Creator  of 
the  universe  in  the  name  of  the  crucified  Jesus."  And 
Tertullian,  who  flourished  half  a  century  later,  after  appeal- 
ing to  the  rulers  of  the  Roman  empire  for  the  diffusion  of  the 
christian  religion  at  that  epoch  thoughout  its  immense  ex- 
tent, enumerates  many  nations  beyond  its  limits,  as  the 
Moors,  the  Getulians,  the  Sarmatians,  the  Dacians,  the  Ger- 
mans, and  the  Scythians,  who  had  become  converts  to  the 
truth.  "  And,  saith  he,  although  we  are  so  great  a  multitude 
that,  in  almost  every  city,  we  form  the  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants, we  pass  our  time  modestly  and  in  silence."  To 
these  nations  St.  Jerom  adds  the  Indians,  the  Persians,  the 
Goths  and  the  Egyptians.  But,  not  to  multiply  quotations, 
it  is  well  known  that,  in  less  than  three  centuries,  the  whole 
Roman  world  had  become  christian. 

Having,  in  this  cursory  manner,  presented  to  your  view 
the  wide  and  rapid  extension  of  the  christian  doctrine  in  the 
first  age,  let  us,  in  the  next  place,  compare  it  with  the  feeble 
instruments  employed  in  this  great  work,  and  with  the  diffi- 
culties which  they  had  to  encounter,  and,  T  persuade  myself, 

*C,  Plin.  Traj.  imp,  lib   10,  epist.  97. 


104 

it  will  appear  to  you  to  be  an  eflfect  altogether  out  of  the  or- 
dinary laws,  and  beyond  the  ordinary  powers  of  human  na- 
ture. 

Our  blessed  Saviour,  in  order  more  clearly  to  demonstrate 
his  own  immediate  agency,  and  almighty  power,  in  the  spir- 
itual conquests  achieved  by  the  doctrine  of  the  cross,  as  well 
as  to  manifest  his  infinite  grace  in  proclaiming  the  glad  tid- 
ings of  salvation  to  the  poor,  chose  for  the  instruments  of  so 
great  a  work  twelve  humble  fishermen.  Circumscribed  by 
their  occupation  in  the  sphere  of  their  ideas,  little  acquainted 
with  human  nature,  ignorant  of  the  arts  and  manners  of  culti- 
vated society,  and  destitute  of  the  learning  and  talents  neces- 
sary to  command  the  attention  and  respect  of  mankind,  in  an 
age  so  polished  and  enlightened  as  that  in  which  they  lived, 
they  seemed  the  most  incompetent  of  all  men  to  effect  such 
an  extraordinary  revolution  in  the  whole  moral  state  of  the 
world.  Exposed  to  contempt  on  account  of  their  original 
employment,  this  was  not  a  little  increased  by  the  hatred  in 
which  their  country  was  held.  For  the  Jews  were  regard- 
ed with  extreme  aversion  by  the  rest  of  mankind,  chiefly  for 
the  abhorrence  which  they  manifested  of  the  customs,  reli- 
gions, and  gods  of  all  other  nations.  And  of  all  parts  of  Ju- 
dea,  the  district  of  Galilee  from  which, they  sprung,  and  the 
town  of  Nazareth  esteemed  the  native  place  of  their  Master, 
were  viewed  with  the  greatest  disdain.  A  Galilean  and  a 
Nazarene  were  names  of  reproach  even  at  Jeriigalem.     Yet, 


105 

with  such  feeble  instruments,  and  in  so  short  a  period  of 
time,  did  the  ascended  Saviour,  just  after  he  had  exhibited 
before  the  view  of  mankind  the  most  discouraging  proofs  of 
his  own  assumed  weakness  in  the  death  to  which  he  submit- 
ted, subdue  the  world  to  the  obedience  of  the  gospel,  over° 
turn  the  altars  and  the  temples  of  paganism,  banish  from  their 
shrines  the  idols  with  their  priests,  change  the  moral  and  re- 
ligious systems  of  the  universe  ;  in  one  word,  overthrow,  and 
utterly  eradicate  from  the  hearts  of  men,  whatever  the  revo- 
lution of  ages  had  rendered  most  venerable  and  sacred  in 
their  esteem  ;  whatever  had  been  most  firmly  incorporated 
with  their  interests  and  their  pleasures,  or  most  deeply  in- 
trenched among  their  prejudices.  This  astonishing  revolu- 
tion, which  not  all  the  wisdom  of  their  sages,  combined  with 
all  the  power  of  their  princes,  could  have  effected,  was  the 
work  of  a  few  Galilean  fishermen,  aided  only  by  one  man  of 
eloquence  and  cultivated  talents.  And  how  was  it  effected  ? 
By  the  most  improbable  of  all  means :  preaching  the  mira- 
culous history  of  a  crucified  man,  together  with  the  doctrines 
of  repentance  and  self-denial  so  revolting  to  the  corrupted 
tastes  of  human  nature.  May  I  not,  then  confidently  de- 
mand if  the  rapid  extension  of  the  religion  of  Christ  under 
the  agency  of  such  instruments,  by  the  preaching  of  such 
doctrines,  through  countries  so  various  and  distant,  and  so 
opposite  in  manners,  in  language,  in  political  interests,  in  re- 
ligious customs  and  ideas,  and  in  all  those  distinctive  pecu- 
liarities which  divide  and  alienate  nations  from  one.  anothei*, 

H 


106 

does  not  contain,  in  the  greatness  and  the  extraordinai-y 
nature  of  the  effect,  a  demonstration  of  the  reality  of  the 
miracles  by  which  it  was  accomplished?  Could  obscure 
and  despised  strangers  have  carried  the  triumphs  of  the 
humble  cross  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  fixed  the 
hopes  of  the  world  on  a  dying  Saviour,  unless  they  had 
borne  in  their  hands  the  credentials  of  Heaven,  and  dis- 
played to  the  senses,  and  the  inmost  convictions  of  mankind, 
the  seal  of  their  heavenly  mission  in  the  constant  operations 
of  a  divine  and  omnipotent  power  attending  their  ministry  ? 
Their  success  could  not  have  flowed  from  their  powers  of 
persuasion,  nor  the  force  of  their  reasonings ;  for  they  were 
not  themselves  masters  of  eloquence  or  of  science.  But  if 
they  had  been  instructed  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  schools, 
the  sages  of  the  pagan  world  had  long  since  found  that  the 
mass  of  mankind  are  incapable  of  entering  into  the  specula- 
tions of  philosophy.  By  philosophic  reasoning  they  had 
never  been  able  to  do  any  thing  effectual  for  the  reformation 
of  the  world.  The  apostles  simply  propounded  the  moral 
maxims,  and  divine  dogmas  of  their  great  Teacher,  confirm- 
ing them  by  the  supernatural  evidence  of  the  works  which 
he  enabled  them  to  perform.  Thus  their  doctrines  rested 
on  the  same  proofs  with  those  principles  of  natural  religion, 
which  the  Creator  has  inscribed  with  his  own  hand,  and  im- 
pressed by  his  own  power  on  the  face  of  nature,  I  mean  the 
characters  which  it  bears  of  his  omnipotence.  No  other 
even  plausible  account  can  be  given  of  a  phenomenon  unpar- 


107 

alleled  in  the  annals  of  the  world.  For,  however  reluctant 
reason  may  be  to  admit  miracles,  no  miracle  was  ever  so 
great  as  such  a  revolution  would  be,  effected  by  twelve  illit- 
erate fishermen,  without  the  immediate  co-operation  and 
aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

If  we  consider  the  diflSculties  and  the  apparently  insur- 
mountable obstacles  which  opposed  the  success  of  the  apos- 
tles, they  will  furnish  strong  additional  proofs  that  these  hum- 
ble ministers  of  the  Redeemer  must  have  been  endued  with 
miraculous  powers. 

I  will  not  repeat  here  those  Impediments  which  naturally 
arose  out  of  the  obscurity  of  their  own  station ;  the  hatred  or 
contempt  with  which  their  nation  was  viewed  ;  and  their  ut- 
ter destitution  of  all  those  talents  of  learning  and  eloquence 
which  are  calculated  to  command  the  respect  and  admiration 
of  the  world.  Under  all  these  disadvantages,  which  were 
more  than  sufficient  to  ruin  the  success  of  men  who  were  not 
inspired  from  Heaven,  without  patronage,  without  friends, 
without  respect  for  their  personal  attributes,  or  influence 
from  the  character  of  their  nation,  were  they  obliged  to  pass 
with  the  gospel  in  their  hands  into  the  remotest  countries, 
among  unknown  people,  ever  prone  to  receive  strangers  with 
jealousy,  or  to  look  down  upon  them  with  contemptuous  dis- 
dain. In  this  case,  their  contempt  of  these  poor  and  for- 
eign fishermen  would  be  very  greatly  increased  by  their 
bringing  to  them  what,  to  their  apprehension,  would  be  only 


108 

a  miraculous  story  of  a  crucified  man.  And  their  indigna- 
tion fvould  be  raised  to  the  highest  pitch,  when  they  found 
themselves  required,  at  the  recital  of  such  a  story,  to  aban- 
don their  religion  and  their  gods,  all  the  principles  of  their 
education  and  their  habits  of  living ;  and  whatever  the  usage 
of  their  ancestors,  for  so  many  ages,  had  rendered  sacred  to 
them,  and  incorporated  with  their  domestic  manners,  their 
religious  institutions,  and  their  national  customs. 

What  nation  ever  willingly  changes  its  gods  ?  However 
contemptible  the  idols  of  paganism  appear  to  us,  the  vulgar 
mind  which  seldom  reasons,  but  usually  takes  all  its  impres- 
sions from  education,  or  from  its  natural  sympathy  with  pub- 
lic opinion,  then  regarded  them  with  that  reverence,  and 
embraced  them  with  that  full  belief  with  which  we  always 
see  the  ignorant  receive  the  traditionary  fables  of  their  coun- 
try. Perhaps  the  objects  of  superstition,  making  their  im- 
pression in  the  tenderest  period  of  life,  and  being  therefore, 
more  perfectly  mingled  with  the  earliest  habits  of  feeling, 
take  a  deeper  hold  upon  the  minds  of  the  common  mass  of 
mankind,  than  the  principles  of  a  more  pure  and  rational  pi- 
ety. But  if  the  prejudices  of  the  populace  presented  almost 
insuperable  difficulties  to  the  apostles,  the  interests  of  the  ru- 
lers presented  others,  perhaps,  still  more  formidable.  The 
religion  of  all  those  nations  was  incorporated  with  the  policy 
of  the  state.  Their  magistrates  were  their  priests.  Its  ce= 
remonies  were  blended  with  all  the  offices  of  the  civil  gpr- 


109 

vernment.  So  that  the  gospel  was  obliged  to  combat,  at  the 
same  time,  with  the  blind  superstition  and  furious  bigotry  of 
the  multitude,  with  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  temples, 
and  with  the  pride  and  jealousy  of  tyrannical  rulers  armed 
with  the  sword,  who  were  afraid  of  nothing  so  much  as  of 
innovation.  We  may  safely  appeal  to  the  common  sense  of 
mankind  if  obstacles  like  these  must  not  have  been  utterly 
insuperable  to  such  men  as  the  apostles,  going  out  to  the 
world  solely  in  their  own  powers  of  reasoning  and  persuasion, 
without  the  supernatural  aid  and  the  accompanying  testimony 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Truth, 

The  natural  difficulties  of  this  great  undertaking  were  al- 
most incalculably  increased  by  the  fate  of  their  Master, 
whose  miraculous  history,  whose  life,  death,  and  resur- 
rection they  were  commanded  to  publish,  and  in  whose  name 
they  were  commissioned  to  preach.  Crucifixion  was  the 
most  ignominious  punishment  among  the  Romans,  reserved 
only  for  the  most  detested  criminals.  Nothing  could  shock 
the  ideas  of  such  a  people  more  than  to  elevate  to  the  rank 
of  a  divinity  a  crucified  man,  the  native  of  a  remote,  depen- 
dent, and  despised  province,  who  had  suffered  like  a  male- 
factor and  slave  for  alleged  crimes  against  the  dominant  state. 
This  circumstance  alone  was  sufficient,  according  to  the 
common  apprehensions  of  the  world,  to  blast  entirely  their 
hopes  of  success.  Of  the  magnitude  of  this  difficulty  we 
raay  frame  some   conception  by  putting  an  analogous  case. 


110 

Suppose  that  a  man  of  the  lowest  extraction,  and  the  obscuf" 
est  country  of  Europe,  had,  for  imputed  treasons,  been  sus- 
pended on  a  gibbet,  or  hung  in  chains ;  and  that  his  accom- 
plices, ignorant  men,  without  talents,  and  without  character, 
should  presume  to  defy  the  government  by  declaring  that  he 
was  risen  from  the  dead,  and  that  they  were  come  in  his 
name,  and  in  contradiction  to  the  civil  authority,  to  over- 
turn all  the  religious  institutions,  and  all  the  objects  of  wor- 
ship and  veneration  in  the  christian  world,  and  such  is  the 
light  in  which  the  disciples  must  have  appeared  to  those 
proud  nations,  and  that  polished  age,  with  what  reception 
would  they  now  meet  ? 

Combining  together  then,  all  these  reflections,  and  com- 
puting the  result,  may  I  not  confidently  demand  of  all  rea- 
sonable and  candid  men,  who  will  fairly  estimate  the  magni- 
tude and  difficulty  of  the  work  of  converting  a  world  in  the 
name  of  a  crucified  man,  who  will  consider  the  weakness, 
and  unpromising  character  of  the  instruments  by  which  it 
was  effected,  and  unite  with  both  the  astonishing  rapidity  of 
Iheir  success,  if  the  apostles  must  not  have  been  aided  by  a 
power  infinitely  superior  to  their  own  ?  if  they  must  not  have 
carried  to  the  hearts  and  senses  of  their  hearers  the  strong- 
est conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 
and  if  they  must  not  have  supported  the  wonderful  history 
of  their  Master  by  miracles  which  they  were  themselves  en- 
abled to  perform :  miracles  of  no  doubtful  aspect,  but  obvi- 


Ill 

ous  and  palpable,  capable  of  standing  the  most  rigorous  scru- 
tiny of  envy,  of  hatred,  of  interest,  of  every  wounded  pre- 
judice, and  of  all  the  ingenuity  which  a  learned  and  enlight- 
ened age  could  bring  to  the  investigation.  Nothing  less  can 
account  for  the  vast  and  surprising  effect  which  the  simplici- 
ty of  the  christian  doctrine,  and  of  the  primitive  ministers  of 
Christianity,  has  been  seen  to  produce.  As  miracles  appear 
to  be  the  only  power  which  could  have  given  such  a  rapid 
extension  to  the  religion  of  Christ,  in  that  enlightened  and 
inquisitive  period,  throughout  such  various,  proud,  and  hos- 
tile nations ;  so  the  rapidity  of  its  extension  in  the  face  of 
infinite  diflScuIties,  furnishes  one  of  the  most  irresistible  evi- 
dences of  the  reality  of  the  miracles. 

In  order  to  account  for  the  rapid  propagation  of  the  chris- 
tian religion  without  having  recourse  to  the  assistance  of  mira- 
cles, some  writers  have  supposed  that  the  superior  reason- 
ableness of  the  moral  system  of  the  gospel  above  that  of  any 
of  the  popular  institutions  of  paganism  facilitated  the  success 
of  the  apostles.  For,  with  all  their  objections  against  the 
mysteries  of  Christianity,  they  are  obliged  to  acknowledge 
the  excellence  of  its  moral  code.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have 
no  hesitancy  in  pronouncing  that  merely  the  reasonableness 
of  a  religion,  or  of  any  moral  system,  never  procured  it,  in 
the  first  instance,  an  easy  and  general  reception  among  the 
mass  of  mankind.  If  it  has  not  been  incorporated  by  educa- 
tion with  their  earliest  habits  of  thinking,  it  must  claim  their 


112 

obedience  and  belief  on  some  higher  authority  than  merely 
the  conclusions  of  their  own  reason,  in  which  they  can  repose 
little  confidence.  Of  this  all  the  ancient  legislators  and  re- 
formers of  nations  were  so  deeply  convinced,  that,  where 
they  had  not  visible  and  real  miracles  on  which  to  establish 
the  public  religion,  or  to  found  those  civil  institutions  by 
which  they  attempted  to  reduce  a  barbarous  people  to  order, 
they  were  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  a  pretended  inter- 
course with  heaven.  If  reason  alone  were  a  competent  in- 
structor of  the  people,  why  had  not  the  genuine  principles 
of  natural  religion  a  more  extensive  diffusion  among  the  popu- 
lace of  Greece  ?  Why  did  the  philosophers  pronounce  the 
people  incapable  of  reasoning  ?  And  why  were  not  the  doc- 
trines of  their  schools  able  to  extirpate  idolatry,  or  even  to 
throw  a  plausible  and  decent  veil  over  its  absurdities  and  inde- 
cencies ?  If  Christianity  prevailed  in  the  first  age  by  the  force 
of  its  own  reasonableness,  why  do  we  not  see  the  same 
effects  produced  by  it  since  miracles  have  ceased  ?  Does  it 
not  still  possess  the  same  superiority  oa  er  the  dismal  idolatry 
of  Greenland,  and  the  indecent  rites  of  India,  which  it  did 
over  the  gay  and  licentious  superstitions  of  Greece  and  Rome  ? 

Other  writers  have  thought  that  they  have  found  a  reason 
of  this  extraordinary  phenomenon  in  the  general  discredit  in- 
to which  the  objects,  and  the  rites  of  the  pagan  worship  had 
fallen  in  that  age.  Their  auguries,  their  oracles,  their  shame- 
ful and  immoral  deities,  it  is  said,  were  despised  by  their  men 


113 

of  learning,  and  had  begun  to  be  a  subject  of  ridicule  to  the 
common  people  ;  and  Christianity  only  came  in  to  occupy  the 
room  which  they  had  left  vacant.  A  less  happy  conjecture, 
perhaps,  could  hardly  have  been  framed.  Incredulity,  sure- 
ly, is  not  a  favourable  soil  for  the  reception  and  growth  of  a 
new  religion.  On  the  contrary,  when  men,  in  the  progress 
of  a  sceptical  philosophy,  and  of  the  dissolution  of  the  public 
morals,  come  to  disbelieve,  and  hold  in  contempt  the  religion 
in  which  they  have  been  educated,  they  are  (hen  prone  to 
confound  all  religions,  and,  along  with  their  country's  gods, 
to  reject,  even  without  examination,  every  new  doctrine 
which  pretends  to  be  derived  from  heaven. 

There  are  authors  who  think  they  have  made  a  shrewd 
observation  on  human  nature,  and  the  liberal  genius  of  ancient 
manners,  when  they  ascribe  the  easy  introduction  of  Christi- 
anity into  the  Roman  empire,  to  what  has  been,  quaintly 
enough,  called  the  sociable  spirit  of  paganism. 

The  Greeks  and  Romans  believing  in  the  existence  of 
local  deities  who  presided  over  particular  districts  and  re- 
gions of  the  earth,  easily  granted  to  foreigners  the  privilege 
of  introducing  their  country  gods  into  Athens  and  Rome, 
and  performing  towards  them  their  country's  rites,  because 
it  was  imagined  they  would  not  be  pleased  with  any  other. 
It  was  never  intended  that  these  stranger  gods  should  sup- 
plant the  native  deities  of  Greece  and  Italy.     It  was  never 

15 


}]4 

conceived  that  the  one  could  interfere  with  the  other.  This, 
however,  could  not  be  the  ground  of  any  favour  shown  to 
Christianity.  Its  worship  was  exclusive.  It  could  make  no 
compromise  with  idolatry.  The  doctrine  of  Christ,  where- 
ever  it  came,  soon  overthrew  all  the  altars  and  temples  of  pa- 
ganism, and  expelled  from  their  shrines  all  the  shameful  ob- 
jects of  an  impure  and  monstrous  worship.  This,  which  is 
the  natural  genius,  and  the  necessary  tendency  of  the  gospel, 
far  from  opening  the  way  for  its  reception  in  those  idolatrous 
nations,  would  at  once  arm  against  it  all  the  power  of  the  mar 
gistrates,  all  the  interest  of  the  priests,  and  all  the  fury  of  a 
bigoted  and  deluded  people. 

The  causes,  therefore,  which  have  been  assembled  with 
so  much  pains  in  order  to  account,  on  natural  principles,  for 
the  superior  success  of  the  apostles  and  first  ministers  of  Chris- 
tianity above  its  modern  missionaries,  are  evidently  not  suffi- 
cient to  support  the  conclusions  which  have  been  attempted 
to  be  built  upon  them.  The  true  cause  of  their  astonishing 
success  is,  that,  while  the  missionaries  can  appeal  only  to  the 
testimony  of  history,  and  the  reasonableness  and  excellence 
of  the  doctrines  which  they  preach,  the  apostles  could  appeal 
also  to  their  own  miracles,  to  the  heavenly  powers  with  which 
they  were  invested,  and  which  spoke  so  strongly  to  the  senses 
of  mankind.  These  are  the  weapons  with  which  the  disci- 
ples of  the  Saviour  subdued  the  earth  to  the  dominion  of  the 
faith.     Although  destitute  of  the  advantages  of  science,  and 


115 

of  that  high  and  commanding  eloquence  which  attracts  the  ad- 
miration of  the  world.  Although  inferior  in  these  respects 
to  the  nations  among  whom  they  travelled  preaching  the  gos- 
pel ;  and  although  they  derived  no  influence  from  the  splen- 
dour or  power  of  their  country,  yet  every  thing  yielded  be- 
fore them.  How  far  superior  to  them  in  every  human  advan- 
tage are  the  present  missionaries  of  our  holy  religion.  Do  they 
not  possess  incomparably  higher  degrees  of  science  than  the 
people  to  whom  they  are  sent  ?  And  do  they  not  go  under 
the  personage  of  nations  regarded  in  those  distant  countries 
with  the  greatest  veneration  for  their  vast  ascendancy  over 
the  rest  of  mankind  in  arts,  and  in  arms  ?  But  they  are  com- 
paratively unsuccessful,  because  they  do  not  curry  with 
them,  like  the  apostles,  the  ensigns  of  heaven,  that  is,  the  de- 
monstraiion  of  the  Spii'it  in  his  miraculous  power,"^ 

Experience  then,  and  reason,  both  concur  to  demonstrate 
that,  without  the  co-operation  of  miracles,  the  christian  doc- 
trine could  not  have  made  such  rapid  and  extensive  progress, 
as  we  have  seen  it  do,  through  nations  so  various,  so  distant, 
and  so  opposite  in  their  characters :  and  this  astonishing 
progress,  as  has  been  before  asserted,  affords  a  strong  con- 
firmation of  the  reality  of  the  miracles  on  which  Christ  found- 
ed his  claim  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  the 


*  1  Cor.  ii.  4,  5.    For  my  speech  and  my  preaciiitig  was  not  wit  h  enticing  words , 
of  man's  wisdom,  but  in  deraonstnttion  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power.    That  your  faith 
thouldnot  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men  but  in  the  pon  erof  God. 


116 

apostles  to  be  received  as  messengers  from  heaven.  Believe 
me,  saith  the  Saviour,  far  the  works*  sake.  Many  of  the 
most  wise  and  judicious  men  esteem  the  argument  drawn 
from  this  fact  absohitely  decisive  of  the  question  concerning 
the  truth  of  Christianity  ;  and  the  most  incredulous  must  con- 
fess that  it  creates  a  very  powerful  presumption  in  favour  of 
the  gospel  history. 

The  writers,  who  suppose  that  the  progress  of  Christianity 
in  the  first  age  may  be  accounted  for  from  natural  causes 
alone,  affect  to  compare  it  with  the  rapid  extension  of  the 
Mahometan  imposture.  But  if  we  enter  into  a  fair  and  can- 
did comparison  of  the  two  cases,  the  apparent  parallelism  be- 
tween them  will  be  found  no  longer  to  exist.  We  have  al- 
ready seen  the  mild  and  pacific  means  by  which  Christiani- 
ty extended  her  gentle  sway  over  the  world.  The  estab- 
lishment of  Mahometanism  was  effected  entirely  by  the  pow- 
er of  the  sword ;  and  its  rapid  extension  and  its  furious 
course  is  no  more  surprising  than  the  conquests  of  Zenghis, 
or  of  Timur,  or  than  any  of  those  sudden  and  violent  revolu- 
tions which  have  so  often  changed  the  face  of  Asia,  in  dif- 
ferent ages.  The  progress  of  Christianity  has  no  parallel  in 
universal  history ;  that  of  the  koran  has,  unfortunately,  too 
many  examples.  For  it  is  as  easy  to  carry  a  new  religion 
among  an  ignorant  people  on  the  point  of  the  sword,,  as  a 
new  code  of  civil  and  political  legislation. 


117 


THE    PRETENCE    OF  CREDULITY  ALLEGED  AGAINST    THOSE 

WHO    EMBRACED    THE    GOSPEL.       EMBRACED    BY 

THE  LEARNED  AS  WELL  AS  THE  VULGAR. 

IMPOSTORS  AMONG  THE  HEATHEN. 

It  is  often  alleged  by  those  who  are  unfriendly  to  the 
christian  revelation,  that  the  credulity  of  mankind,  and  their 
love  of  the  marvellous,  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the  pro- 
gress of  the  gospel,  and  the  general  belief  of  its  miracles. 
"  The  weakness  of  illiterate  followers,  they  say,  would  gree= 
dily  swallow  the  pretended  wonders  of  their  Master.  They 
could  easily  raise  the  wonder-loving  sipirit  of  their  hearers, 
who  would  be  ready,  without  inquiry,  either  to  admit  their 
own  pretences  to  a  miraculous  power,  or  to  believe  the  fa- 
bled miracles  of  Christ."  By  a  few  such  general  sneers 
they  save  themselves  the  trouble  of  examining  the  evidences 
of  the  christian  revelation,  and  cast  off  from  their  consciences 
the  irksome  authority  of  the  christian  law. 

It  is  true  the  ignorant  in  all  countries  are  credulous  ;  and, 
in  consequence  of  this  tendency  of  mind,  they  abound  in 
narrations  of  silly  wonders.  But  is  there,  therefore,  nothing 
really  wonderful  in  the  providence  of  God  over  the  world, 
or  in  the  dispensation  of  his  mercy  to  mankind  ?  Certainly, 
every  candid  reader  will  confess  that  the  miracles  of  the 
gospel  ought  not  to  be  compared  with  those  ridiculous  and 
local  prodigies  recited  in  every  district  of  every  country  by 


118 

ihe  vulgar ;  and  which  are  evidently  the  eflfect  of  supersti- 
tious weakness,  or  an  enthusiastic  fervor  of  mind.  The  writ- 
ings of  the  evangelists  and  apostles  exhibit  no  marks  of  that 
imbecility  in  their  mental  powers  which  would  render  them 
liable  to  be  easily  imposed  upon  by  lying  wonders,  and  false 
appearances.  If  we  do  not  admit  that  they  were  enlightened 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  in  which  case  no  deception  could  be 
suspected,  the  excellence  of  their  moral  system,  the  sublim- 
ity of  their  theological  doctrines,  so  superior  to  the  philoso- 
phy of  their  age,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  views  which  they 
have  opened  on  the  universe,  so  far  above  whatever  had  been 
before  conceived  by  the  human  mind  in  any  age,  demon- 
strate that  they  must  have  been  men  of  the  soundest  judg- 
ments, and  the  strongest  intellectual  faculties,  on  which  no 
fraud  could  have  been  practised,  no  attempted  imposition 
could  have  succeeded. 

That  they  were  not  parties  to  any  scheme  of  imposture, 
their  wisdom,  their  piety,  their  self-denials,  their  arduous  la- 
bours, their  continual  suflerings,  and,  finally,  their  painful, 
various,  and  voluntary  deaths  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  declare 
with  a  conviction  which,  I  think,  must  be  irresistible  to  a 
mind  that  considers  the  subject  with  fairness  and  im- 
partiality. 

I  observe,  in  the  next  place,  that  their  writings  exhibit  as 
few  characters^  of  enthusiasm  as  of  weakness.     Their  histor- 


119 

ical  narrations  are  given  with  a  dignified  simplicity,  their  mor- 
al instructions,  in  a  clear  and  judicious  train  of  reasoning  en- 
forced with  temperate  warmth.  We  find  in  them  none  of 
those  wild  fervors,  and  ridiculous  extravagancies  which  seem 
inseparable  from  the  spirit  of  enthusiasm.  They  exhibit  all 
the  proofs,  which  writing  and  conduct  can  manifest,  of  the 
most  undesigning  sincerity ;  and  speak  of  the  most  astonish- 
ing displays  of  divine  power  in  the  miracles  of  their  Master, 
and  their  own,  in  a  strain  of  calm  and  temperate  narration 
which  surprises  us  not  less  than  the  actions  themselves. 
They  speak  like  men  who  were  not  only  witnesses  of  the 
miracles  of  Jesus,  but  were  conscious  of  the  same  powers  ia 
themselves,  and  were  familiar  with  the  works  of  omnipo- 
tence. Neither  enthusiasm,  then,  which  deceives  itself,  nor 
imposture,  which  endeavours  to  deceive  others,  nor  a  weak 
facility  of  believing  without  evidence,  can  justly  be  imputed 
to  the  apostles.  Can  we  then  find  a  more  satisfactory  rea- 
son of  the  universal  belief  of  the  miracles  of  the  gospel  in 
the  credulity  of  the  world  ? 

The  populace  are  prone  to  listen  with  a  certain  idle  curi- 
osity, and  to  circulate  with  eagerness  among  themselves 
marvellous  tales  when  they  produce  no  other  effect  than 
agitating,  and  giving  play  to  their  natural  love  of  wonder. 
But,  when  they  are  to  affect  any  great  interest ;  when  the 
belief  of  them  is  conjoined  with  the  sacrifice  of  their  pas- 
sions, their  pleasures,  their  national  customs,  their  honour, 


120 

or  their  fortune,  the  case  is  entirelj  reversed :  then  they  are 
received  with  distrust,  and  scrutinized  with  rigour.  If,  in 
dark  and  ignorant  ages,  the  people  are  disposed  to  Hsten  to 
fables  which  seem  to  spring  out  of  the  genius  of  their  reli- 
gion, and  are  intended  only  to  strengthen  their  favourite  su- 
perstition, they  would  not  surely  lend  the  same  easy  faith 
to  prodigies,  real  or  pretended,  which  should  be  alleged 
only  to  overturn  whatever  was  held  most  sacred  among  them. 
Besides,  wherever  the  gospel  came,  the  native  superstitions 
of  the  people  had  pre-occupied  their  minds.  All  their  cre- 
dulity was  already  enlisted  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine,  the 
history,  and  the  miracles  of  Christ.  And  in  proportion  to 
their  ignorance,  was  the  violence  with  which  they  were  at- 
tached to  silly  and  incongruous  fables,  which  were  more 
adapted  to  the  grossness  of  their  minds  than  the  pure  and 
spiritual  theology  and  morality  of  the  gospel. 

But,  whatever  declamations  men  may  think  proper  to 
make  on  the  credulity  of  the  vulgar,  the  belief  of  the  chris- 
tian revelation  was  not  confined  to  this  class  of  society.  It 
early  numberj^d  among  its  disciples  magistrates,  senators,  or* 
ators,  and  philosophers  of  the  highest  distinction  for  learn- 
ing and  eloquence ;  men  who  examined  the  claims  of  the 
religion  with  the  most  painful  diligence,  and  the  most  accurate 
scrutiny ;  men  who  reluctantly  yielded  the  haughtiness  of 
office,  the  vanity  of  national  superiority,  the  pride  of  talents 
and  of  learning,  to  the  force  of  truth,  and  the  demonstrations 


121 

of  a  divine  power  accompanying  Christ  and  his  apostles. 
Not  to  speak  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  one  of  the  sanhedrim 
of  the  Jews,  on  whose  history  some  obscurity  rests,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  Dionysius,  a  member  of  the  celebrated  Areopagus 
of  Athens,  and  Flavius  Clemens,  a  senator  of  Rome,  suflfer- 
ed  martyrdom  for  Christ  in  the  very  first  age.     Arnobius, 
an  early  historian  of  the  church,  assures  us  that  men  of  the 
finest  talents  and  the  greatest  learning,  orators,  grammarians, 
rhetoricians,  lawyers,  physicians,  philosophers,  abandoning 
their  former  opinions,  and  the  systems  to  which  they  had 
been  attached  by  education,  and  the  habits  of  a  philosophical 
life,  now  reposed  their  minds  only  on  the  truth  of  the  gospel. 
The  writings,  and  even  the  names  of  great  numbers  of  men 
of  letters  have  not  come  down  to  us.     A  few  only,  out  of 
multitudes,  who,  we  are  assured,  were  no  way  inferior  to 
them,  and  not  inferior  to  the  wisest  men  of  the  period  in 
which  they  lived,  have  survived  to  our  age."^     And  if  we 
were  to  select  a  philosopher  of  that  time,  most  distinguished 
for  the  splendour  of  his  talents,  the  acuteness  of  his  genius, 
and  the  vast  extent  of  his  erudition,  it  would  be  Origen,  with 


*  It  will  be  sufficient  to  name  the  two  Dionysii,  one  of  Athens,  the  other  of  Al- 
t.i:.indria,  Quadratus,  Aristides,  Athenagoras,  Clemens,  Anatolius,  without  men- 
tioning the  crowd  of  the  fathers  wlio,  redeemed  from  paganism  and  the  errors  of 
the  heathen  philosophy,  embraced  the  doctrine  of  Christ  with  zeal  as  the  repose 
and  hope  of  their  souls.  Having  the  strongest  motives  to  examine  into  the  foun- 
dations of  that  new  and  divine  philosophy,  their  nearness  to  the  events  recorded 
inthe  sacred  history  afforded  them  the  amplest  means  of  ascertaining  their  truth, 

16 


V22 

whom  none  of  the  learned  men  of  bis  time  deserves  to  be 
named  as  a  rivaK 

Is  it  to  be  presumed,  then,  that  men  of  their  character,  and 
attainments  in  science,  enjoying,  as  they  did,  the  means  of 
the  most  minute  and  accurate  inquiry,  would  receive  on 
slight  evidence,  or,  indeed,  would  embrace,  without  the  most 
rigorous  examination,  a  new  religion  which  overturned,  and 
treated  as  folly  all  their  ancient  principles  of  philosophy  ?  Is 
there  a  shadow  of  probability  that  such  men  would  enlist 
themselves  as  disciples,  and  champions  of  this  religion,  with- 
out the  most  satis&ictory  evidence  of  the  divine  authority^ 
on  which  it  rested,  and  the  deepest  conviction  of  its  infinite 
importance  to  mankind,  when  its  first  effect  was  to  humble 
the  pride  of  human  science,  on  which  they  had  promised 
themselves  to  build  their  glory ;  when  instead  of  being  the 
proud  teachers  of  a  proud  philosophy,  it  turned  them  back 
to  be  the  self-denied  pupils  of  unlearned  Jews,  and  a  cruci- 
fied Saviour ;  and  above  all,  when  it  exposed  them  to  such 
extreme  sufferings  as  no  partial  conviction,  no  doubtful  faith^ 
and  no  hasty  and  immature  opinions,  could  ever  have  ena- 
bled them  to  endure  ?  Not  credulity,  surely,  but  conviction 
established  upon  the  most  solid  basis  could  have  sustained 
them  under  the  operation  of  those  severe  and  fiery  tests 
of  their  faith  to  which  it  was  constantly  subjected.  That  I 
may  place  this  point  in  as  strong  a  light  as  possible,  let  me 


123 

^4[aote  here  a  passage  from  the  pious  and  elegant  Addison,  in 
which  it  is  presented  to  us  with  equal  force  of  thought  and 
beautj-  of  expression :  "  I  cannot  help  regarding  as  a  stand- 
ing miracle,  says  he,  that  amazing,  and  supernatural  cour- 
age, or  patience,  shown  by  innumerable  multitudes  of  mar- 
tyrs in  those  slow  and  painful  torments  that  were  inflicted  on 
them.  I  cannot  conceive  a  man  placed  in  the  burning  chair 
at  Lyons,  amid  the  insults  and  mockeries  of  a  crowded  am- 
phitheatre, and  still  keeping  his  seat ;  or  stretched  upon  a 
grate  of  iron  over  coals  of  fire,  and  breathing  out  his  soul 
among  the  exquisite  sufferings  of  such  a  tedious  execution, 
rather  than  renounce  his  religion,  or  blaspheme  his  Saviour. 
Such  trials  seem  to  me  above  the  strength  of  human  nature, 
and  able  to  overbear  duty,  reason,  faith,  conviction,  nay, 
and  the  most  absolute  certainty  of  a  future  state.  Humani- 
ty, unassisted  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  must  have  shaken 
off  the  present  pressure,  and  delivered  itself  out  of  such  a 
dreadful  distress  by  any  means  which  could  have  been  sug- 
gested to  it.  We  can  easily  imagine  that  many  persons.  In 
so  good  a  cause  might  have  laid  down  their  lives  at  the  gib- 
bet, the  stake,  or  the  block :  but,  to  expire  leisurely  among 
the  most  exquisite  tortures,  when  they  might  come  out  of 
them  even  by  a  mental  reservation,  or  a  hypocrisy  which 
was  not  without  the  possibility  of  being  followed  by  repen- 
tance and  forgiveness,  has  something  in  it  so  far  beyond  the 
force  and  natural  strength  of  mortals,  (liat  one  cannot  but 


124 

think  there  was  some  miraculous  power  to  support  the  suf- 
ferer.'* Although  we  should  not  think  with  Mr.  Addison, 
that  any  divine  aid  which  might  be  strictly  called  iniraculousj 
was  commuBicated  to  these  pious  sufferers,  yet  must  we  ad- 
mit that  nothing  short  of  the  clearest  and  strongest  convic- 
tion of  the  truth  of  the  gospel  and  its  miracles ;  nothing  but 
the  firmest  persuasion  that  Christ  alone  had  the  words  of 
eternal  lifey  could  have  induced  them  to  expose  themselves 
to  such  dangers,  or  supported  them  in  enduring  such  excru- 
ciating torments.  Is  it  possible  that  philosophic  men,  what- 
ever may  be  supposed  of  the  vulgar  class  of  martyrs,  could 
have  voluntarily  gone  to  death  surrounded  with  so  many  ter- 
rors, if  their  minds  had  not  been  encouraged,  animated,  and 
supported  by  the  most  complete  conviction,  founded  on  the 
strongest  and  most  rational  evidence,  that  the  doctrines 
which  they  had  embraced,  and  the  miracles  which  they  be- 
held, were  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  the  power  of  God? 
The  least  doubtfulness,  the  smallest  apprehension  that  they 
had  not  thoroughly  examined  the  proofs  of  that  holy  religion, 
to  which  they  were  about  to  offer  up  their  lives  amidst  such 
a  complication  of  horrors,  must  have  shaken  the  constancy 
of  their  souls.  But,  when  we  see  that  no  dangers  can  move 
them,  and  that,  in  the  midst  of  their  sufferings,  they  preserve 
their  serenity  and  firmness  unaltered,  except  when  it  rises  to 
exultation  and  triumph,  such  matchless  and  divine  heroism 
can,  surely,  never  be  the  result  of  a  weak  credulity.    In 


125 

auch  tremendous  conflicts,  integrity  and  truth  alone  can  sus- 
tain the  heart. 

One  important  consideration  in  the  change  of  those  learn- 
ed men,  who  embraced  Christianity  in  the  primitive  age,  de- 
serves to  be  particularly  remarked :  they  declare  that  it  was 
not  merely  the  purity  and  perfection  of  the  christian  faith, 
which  originally  produced  their  conversion  from  paganism 
and  philosophy,  but  the  miracles  which  they  saw  performed 
by  the  apostles  and  apostolic  men,  which  carried  with  them 
unequivocal  demonstrations  of  a  divine  power  attending  their 
doctrine,  and  without  which  they  would  probably  never  have 
turned  their  minds  to  an  examination  of  its  excellence. 

Some  writers  have  unaccountably  pretended  that  the  tes- 
timony of  the  christian  fathers  to  the  miracles  of  the  gospel 
ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  possessing  any  weight  in  the 
scale  of  evidence  by  which  we  estimate  its  truth,  because  it 
is  the  testimony  of  friends  in  favour  of  their  own  system. 
But  what  made  them  christians  ?  What  created  their  attach- 
ment to  the  christian  doctrine  ?  Was  it  not  the  miracles 
they  beheld  ?  They  were  before  ignorant  of  its  true  nature ; 
they  were  hostile  to  its  spirit,  to  the  name  of  its  Author,  and 
to  his  nation.  But  they  sacrificed  their  prejudices,  but  they 
became  disciples  of  a  religion  they  had  hated  and  despised, 
and  for  the  profession  of  it  they  exposed  themselves  to  the 


126 

most  teiTJbie  deaths.     Their  conversion,  then,  is  preciselj 
that  which  gives  the  greatest  force  to  their  testimony. 

To  support  the  objection  against  the  reality  of  miracles, 
which  is  founded  on  the  credulity  of  mankind,  we  are  re- 
ferred to  various  impostures  which,  at  different  periods,  have 
obtained  a  temporary  credit  and  success  in  the  world.  On 
a  few  of  those  which  have  been  most  confidently  opposed  to 
the  mighty  works  performed  by  our  Saviour  and  his  apos- 
tles, I  shall,  after  offering  to  your  consideration  two  prelimi- 
nary remarks,  make  several  observations  with  the  view  of 
discriminating  them  from  the  real  operations  of  a  divine  pow- 
er. The  first  remark  which  I  offer  is,  that,  if  pretences  to 
a  peculiar  intercourse  with  Heaven  have  been  attempted  to 
be  maintained  by  the  additional  pretence  to  miraculous  pow- 
ers, it  is,  at  least,  a  proof  of  the  general  persuasion  of  man- 
kind, that  miracles  form  the  proper  evidence  of  a  divine 
mission.  If,  therefore,  a  real  messenger  from  Heaven  should 
ever  appear  in  the  world,  it  is  a  most  natural  and  reasonable 
expectation  that  he  should  be  invested  with  an  extraordina- 
ry control  over  the  common  operations  of  nature  as  the  seal 
of  his  prophetic  character.  But  because  there  have  been 
religious  impostors,  are  there,  therefore,  no  true  prophets  ? 
Because  there  are  empirics  in  every  Hberal  profession,  are 
there  no  certain  principles  of  science  ?  This  can  be  the 
conclusion  only  of  ignorance  or  prejudice.    ^Empiricism  in 


i2r 

religion,  or  in  art,  should  not  make  us  deny  the  existence  of 
truth  in  both,  but  only  render  us  more  careful  and  scrupu- 
lous in  examining  the  pretensions  of  those  who  come  to  us  as 
instructors  in  either. 

I  remark,  in  the  next  place,  that,  between  the  miracles 
of  the  holy  scriptures,  and  those  mysterious  incantations, 
and  ambiguous  wonders,  performed  by  the  priests,  and  ma- 
gicians of  paganism,  which  certain  writers  have  affected  to 
bring  into  competition  with  them,  there  are  strong  and  mark- 
ed distinctions  which  ought  to  be  particularly  observed,  and 
which  are  suflBcient  to  demonstrate  the  one  to  be  from  Heav- 
en, the  other  to  be  only  the  spurious  growth  of  human  arti- 
fice and  corruption. 

These  pretended  prodigies  were  commonly  exhibited  in 
some  sequestered  place  where  the  operators  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  preparing  whatever  means  of  deception  were  neces- 
sary for  imposing  on  the  senses.  Often  they  were  exhibited 
in  the  recesses  of  their  temples  in  the  midst  of  glooms  ren- 
dered awful  by  superstition,  and  of  fearful  images  presented 
to  an  imagination  already  almost  crazed  by  terror,  which  de- 
prived the  miserable  subject  of  their  art  of  all  power  of 
judging  rationally  of  the  scenes  before  him.  Nothing  was 
done  openly  and  in  public,  and  exposed  to  the  fair  and  dis 
passionate  examination  of  the  senses  of  all  men.     Their  pro- 


128 

digies  were  works  of  darkness,  secluded  from  the  observa- 
tion of  the  world,  performed  only  on  rare  occasions,  and  af- 
ter much  artful  preparation.*  The  miracles  of  our  blessed 
Saviour,  on  the  other  hand,  were  the  ordinary  and  familiar 
actions  of  his  life.  Nothing,  as  he  says  himself,  was  done 
in  secret.  But  all  his  wonderful  works  were  performed  on 
such  subjects  as  no  slight  of  hand,  no  apparatus  for  deceiv- 
ing the  senses  could  reach ;  such  as  healing  the  sick,  open- 
ing the  eyes  of  the  blind,  restoring  the  paralytic  to  their  na- 
tural powers,  assuaging  the  winds  and  the  waves,  and  rais- 
ing the  dead.  Their  wonders  were  employed  to  amuse  the 
popular  credulity,  and  to  confirm  among  the  ignorant  an  old 
superstition  by  the  strange  narrations  which  the  dupes  of  the 
imposture  afterwards  disseminated  among  the  people.  They 
were  followed  by  no  other  consequence.  But  the  works  of 
Jesus  Christ,  by  powerfully  seizing  on  the  human  mind,  have 
been  followed  by  the  most  important  revolution  which  has 
ever  taken  place  in  the  moral  world. 

OF  SUPPOSITITIOUS  SUPERNATURAL  POWERS. 

The  pretended  powers  which,  in  various  countries,  have 
been  exhibited  by  magicians,  and  sorcerers,  and  other  men 

*  Tliis  was  the  case  in  several  places  in  Greece,  but  particularly  in  the  tem- 
ple and  cave  of  Trophonius.  An  interesting  account  of  some  of  the  scenes  of  im- 
posture exhibited  in  that  celebrated  cavern  of  superstition  will  be  found  in  the 
travels  of  Anacharsis  t!ie  younger  througii  Greece,  by  the  Abbe  Barthelemy. 
chap.  34  th. 


129 

of  that  class,  have,  by  the  enemies  of  the  christian  revela' 
tion,  been  set  in  opposition  to  the  miracles  of  our  Saviout) 
as  being  entitled  to  equal  authority.  By  this  artifice,  plac- 
ing imposture  and  truth  on  the  same  ground,  they  endeav- 
our to  weaken,  and,  at  length,  to  destroy  the  influence  of 
the  latter  over  the  human  mind.  The  scriptures,  Ihey  say, 
place  them  on  an  equal  footing,  by  ascribing  the  works  of 
both  to  supernatural  causes ;  or  making  both  equally  the  ef- 
fects of  some  secret  art.  If  they  are  derived  from  supernat- 
ural influence,  by  what  criterion,  let  me  ask,  shall  we  distin- 
guish the  demoniacal  from  the  divine  ?  A  just  subject  of 
regret  it  is,  that  many  christian  writers  have  given  too  much 
countenance  to  this  species  of  objection,  by  attributing  to 
demons,  and  malignant  spirits,  occasionally,  certain  miracu- 
lous powers,  and  the  prescient  faculty  of  predicting  future 
events.  In  order  to  remove  the  foundation  of  this  objection 
in  which  unbelievers  have  triumphed,  I  would  lay  it  down 
as  a  maxim  necessary,  to  the  support  of  true  religion,  that 
miracles  are  exclusively  reserved  to  be  the  proofs  of  divine 
revelation,  and  can  never  be  performed  by  any  but  the  best 
of  beings,  and  for  the  most  wise,  and  beneficent  ends.  The 
ascription  of  supernatural  powers  over  the  eslablished  order 
of  the  universe,  to  infernal  or  demoniacal  agents  is  equally 
contrary  to  reason,  to  experience,  and  to  the  sacred  scrip- 
lures,  which  last,  however,  have  been  unhappily  misinter- 
preted to  support  this  dangerous  error. 

17 


130 

This  subject  I  have  already  treated  in  another  work*  to 
which  I  beg  leave  to  refer  the  reader  who  may  think  the 
question  worthy  their  further  investigation.  The  decision  of 
our  Saviour  upon  it  appears  to  me  definitive  when  he  thus  ap- 
peals to  the  evidence  of  his  own  divine  mission. — The  works 
which  the  Father  hath  given  me  to  finish,  the  same  works 
that  I  do  bear  witness  of  me,  that  the  Father  hath>sent  me. 
If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my  Father,  believe  me  not. 

The  next  source  of  the  direct  evidence  for  our  holy  reli- 
gion is  that  derived  from  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy.  But, 
as  I  have  omitted  a  discussion  concerning  demoniacal  pow- 
ers, and  the  false  miracles  supposed  to  be  drawn  from  that 
principle,  that  I  might  avoid  swelling  this  volume  to  too  large 
a  size,  I  shall,  for  the  same  reason,  omitting  the  extensive  de- 
tails which  would  naturally  arise  out  of  the  accomplishment 
of  all  the  predictions  of  the  sacred  scriptures,  confine  my- 
self only  to  two .  sul^jects^j.  f/t€  destruction  of  the  Jewish  na- 
tion,— and  the  appearance  and  character  of  the  Messiah,  the 
predictions  concerning  which  are  so  astonishing,  and  their  ac- 
complishment so  particular  and  complete,  that  they  may 
reasonably  be  esteemed  in  the  room  of  all  for  producing  en- 
tire conviction  in  the  inquisitive,  candid,  and  pious  mind..:     > 


*  Lectures  oq  thejevidences  of  religion  to  the  Senior  Clas£(  in  the  College  of 
New-Jersey. 


J31 

Suflfer  me,  then,  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  reader,  in 
the  first  place,  to  that  most  wonderful  prediction  concerning 
the  fate  and  destinies  of  the  nation  of  Israel,  uttered  by  Mo- 
ses, their  divine  legislator,  near  the  close  of  his  life. 

THE    PROPHECY    OF    MOSES    CONCERNING    THE    FINAL   DE- 
STRUCTION OF  THE  JEWISH  NATION. 

At  that  period  when  the  devout  and  pious  mind  often  be- 
comes prophetic,  the  illapse  of  the  divine  Spirit  on  him  ap- 
pears to  have  been  unusually  clear  and  strong.  After  pro- 
posing to  this  people  the  highest  motives  to  duty,  and  mul- 
tiplying to  them  the  most  gracious  promises  of  prosperity  if 
they  should  continue  obedient  to  the  laws  which  God  had 
given  them  by  him,  he  carries  his  view  far  forward  into  fu- 
ture ages,  and,  foreseeing  the  general  defection  of  tbie  nation 
from  the  true  spirit  of  their  religion,  he  denounces  the  most 
fearful  judgments  of  heaven  upon  their  disobedience  and  im- 
piety. And  then,  tracing  their  destinies  to  the  end  of  time, 
he  delineates  them  with  such  clearness  and  circumstantial  ex- 
actness, that,  if  we  may  judge  of  the  future  by  the  past  for 
more  than  three  thousand  years,  he  seems  to  present  a  his- 
tory rather  than  a  prophecy.  So  terrible  are  these  denun- 
ciations that  nothing  but  the  strongest  sense  of  duty,  and  the 
most  submissive  obedience  to  the  command  of  God,  could 
have  extorted  them  from  the  legislator,  and  father  of  his  peo- 
ple :  and  so  peculiar  are  these  destinies  that  nothing  but  tha.t 


132 

infinite  prescience,  which  embraces  all  things,  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end,  under  one  view,  could  have  declared 
them  so  many  ages  before  they  existed. 

The  prophecy  to  which  I  refer  is  contained  in  the  twenty 
eighth  and  thirtieth  chapters  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy. 
I  shall  recite  only  such  portions  of  it  as  are  necessary  to  the 
object  of  the  present  lecture,  which  is  to  point  out  the  final 
extinction  of  the  civil  government,  and  national  existence  of 
the  Jews ;  the  miseries  which  accompanied  their  political 
death ;  and  their  consequent,  and  continued  dispersion  among 
all  the  nations  of  the  world.  "  The  Lord  shall  bring  a  na- 
tion against  thee  from  afar,  from  the  end  of  the  earth,  as  swift 
as  the  eagle  that  flieth ;  a  nation  whose  tongue  thou  shalt  not 
understand  ;  a  nation  of  fierce  countenance,  which  shall  not 
regard  the  person  of  the  old,  nor  show  favour  to  the  young.* 
And  he  shall  besiege  thee  in  all  thy  gates,  until  thy  high 
and  fenced  walls  come  down  wherein  thou  trustedst,  through- 
out  all  thy  land.  And  thou  shalt  eat  the  fruit  of  thine  own 
body,  the  flesh  of  thy  sons,  and  of  thy  daughters  in  the  siege, 
and  in  the  straitness  wherewith  thine  enemies  shall  distress 
thee  ;  so  that  the  man  who  is  tender  among  you,  and  very 
delicate,  his  eye  shall  be  evil  toward  his  brother,  and  toward 
the  wife  of  his  bosom,  and  toward  the  remnant  of  the  chil- 
dren that  he  shall  leave ;  so  that  he  shall  not  give  to  any  of 

*&c.  Ch,  28,  V.  OZ. 


133 

them  of  the  flesh  of  his  children  which  he  shall  eat ;  because 
he  shall  have  nothing  left  him  in  the  siege,  and  in  the  strait- 
ness  wherewith  thine  enemies  shall  distress  thee  in  all  thy 
gates.  The  tender  and  delicate  woman  among  you,  who 
would  not  adventure  to  set  the  sole  of  her  foot  upon  the 
ground  for  delicateness  and  tenderness,  her  eye  shall  be  evil 
toward  the  husband  of  her  bosom,  and  toward  her  son,  and 
toward  her  daughter,  and  toward  her  young  infant,  even  to- 
ward her  children  which  she  shall  bear :  for  she  shall  eat 
them  for  want  of  all  things,  secretly,  in  the  siege  and  strait- 
ness  wherewith  thine  enemies  shall  distress  thee  in  all  thy 
gates.*  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  ye  shall  be  plucked 
from  off  the  land  whither  thou  goest  to  possess  it.  And  the 
Lord  shall  scatter  thee  among  all  people  from  one  end  of 
the  earth,  even  to  the  other.  And  among  these  nations  shalt 
thou  find  no  ease  ;  neither  shall  the  sole  of  thy  foot  have 
rest.f  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  all  these  things  are 
come  upon  thee,  the  blessing,  and  the  curse,  which  I  have 
set  before  thee,  and  thou  shalt  call  them  to  mind  among  all 
the  nations  whither  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  driven  thee,  and 
shalt  return  unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  shalt  obey  his  voice 
according  to  all  that  I  command  thee  this  day,  thou  and  thy 
children,  with  all  thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul ;  that 
then  the  Lord  thy  God  will  turn  thy  captivity,  and  have 


*  Ch.  28.  V.  63,  &c. 
f  Ch.  30.  V.  1—3. 


coiBiflas'sion  flpii  thee,  and  will  return  and  gather  thee  from 
all  thd^nlitle^nB  wMther  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  scattered 


thee."' 


Every  thpg  in  this  prophecy  is  astonishing ;  and  if  we 
seriously  am'^attentively  consider  it  in  all  its  parts,  it  carries 
with  it  irref^able  evidence  of  its  having  been  dictated  by 
the  omniscient' Spirit  of  God..  The  minuteness  and  accu- 
racy  of  the  detail  is  hardly  exceeded  by  the  history  of  the 
events.  The  events  themselves  are  so  singular  and  unex- 
ampled, that  a  pretended  prophet,  vending  only  probable 
conjectures,  or  ambiguous  oracles,  for  prophecy,  never 
would  have  conceived,  or  ventured  to  utter  them.  And  if 
he  had  been  so  bold,  there  are  infinite  chances  against  one 
that  words  thrown  out  in  random  guesses  should  never  coin- 
cide with  the  current  of  future  history.  That  a  nation,  in 
a  course  of  time,  should  degenerate  from  her  primitive  man- 
ners, and,  at  length,  be  subjugated  by  some  powerful  con- 
queror, is  an  event  so  much  in  the  order  of  nature,  that  it 
requires  no  great  portion  of  political  sagacity  to  predict  it 
in  general  terms.  But  who  could  foresee  at  so  great  a  dis- 
tance, that  the  Jews  would  perish  precisely  in  such  a  man- 
ner ;  that  their  sieges  would  be  so  dreadful ;  that  the  rem- 
nant, who  should  escape  the  famine  and  the  sword,  should 
be  dispersed  through  all  nations,  where,  renewing  their  num- 
bers, they  should  still  continue,  a  distinct  people,  and  capa- 
ble, on  their  repentance,  of  being  again  restored  to  a  national 


:  135       '         .: 

and  independent  state  miliieir''own  land?"THis  is  surely  the^ 
foresight  of  inspiration. 

The  people  of  Israel  were  under  a  peculiar  providence. 
While  they  continued  obedient  to  the  law  of  God  given  them 
by  Moses,  they  enjoyed  distinguished  temporal  happiness 
and  prosperity.  But  their  departures  from  the  law  of  their 
God,  their  idolatries,  and  their  general  defection  to.  ininioral- 
ity  and  impiety  were  always  punished  with  mark^d.'ap;4  se^vere 
chastisements.  And  it  was  announced  to  them^tlK^/*W;he^,,  .^ 
these  temporary  .inflictions  should  fail  to  produce  theeffeCtuaj 
correction  and  reformation  of  their  manners,  the  judgments  of 
heaven  should  fall  upon  them  with  more  dreadful  severity  ; 
that,  after  suffering  all  the  most  grievous  calamities  of  war,  the 
miserable  remnants  of  the  sword  should  be  exiled  from  their 
desolated  country,  and  scattered  as  vagabonds  over  the  whole 
earth,  being  subjected  to  every  privation  and  indignity,  till 
the  appointed  period,  for  the  expiation  of  their  sins,  should 
bring  them  to  repentance,  and  open  the  way  for  their  restora- 
tion to  their  own  land. 

Let  us  now  see  how  literally  these  denunciations  have  been 
verified  ;  especially,  at  two  great  epochas,  the  Babylonish 
captivity  ;  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  dispersion 
of  the  Jews,  under  the  Roman  emperor  Vespasian.  In  the 
siege  which  preceded  both  the  one  captivity,  and  the  other, 
this  people  suffered  almost  unheard  of  calamities.     As  their 


136 

privileges  had  been  greater  than  those  of  other  nations,  their 
iniquities  seem  to  have  risen  in  the  same  proportion  Having 
rejected  with  scorn  the  warnings  of  those  divine  messen- 
gers sent  to  them  by  God,  they  appear  to  have  been  aban- 
doned by  him  to  an  infatuated  mind,  agitated  by  the  most  fe- 
rocious passions.  Their  miseries,  instead  of  humbling  their 
pride,  or  calming  their  madness,  rendered  them  only  more  fu- 
rious ;  and  their  enemies  themselves,  in  the  midst  of  fire  and 
slaughter,  sometimes  looked  on  them  with  commiseration  and 
astonishment  as  a  people  marked  out  for  the  peculiar  ven- 
geance of  heaven.  And  the  recital  of  their  sufferings,  parti- 
cularly in  the  destruction  of  their  city  by  the  Romans,*  which 
seems  to  have  been  chiefly  in  the  view  of  their  prophetic 
legislator,  is  perhaps  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  hu- 
man misery. 

And  he  shall  besiege  thee  in  all  thy  gates,  continues  the 
prophecy,  until  thy  high  and  fenced  walls  come  down 
wherein  thou  trustedsty  throughout  all  thy  land.  And  it  de- 
serves to  be  remarked  of  the  Jewish  nation,  more,  perhaps, 
than  of  any  other,  that  their  calamities  have  been  the  conse- 

*  The  description  of  the  conquering  nation  carries  in  it  a  striking  application 
to  the  Somans.  The  Lord  shall  bring  a  nation  against  thee  from  afar,  from  the 
END  OF  THE  EARTH,  as  smiftas  an  eagle  thai  flieth  ;  atiation  nhosc  tokgue  tliou  shall 
NOT  UNDERSTAND,  &c.  The  language  of  Chaldea  was  not  so  unintelligible  to  the 
Hebrews  as  that  of  the  Romans ;  nor  was  Babylon  so  distant  from  Jerusalem  iis 
Borne. 


i3r 

quence,  not  so  much  of  unfortunate  conflicts  in  the  open  fieltfj 
as  of  desperate  and  disastrous  sieges,  in  which  the  greater 
portion  of  the  people,  being  shut  up  within  their  walls,  suf- 
fered whatever  famine  and  civil  discord,  inflamed  by  the  most 

furious  and  fanatical  passions,  not  less  than  the  sword  of  the 
enemy,  could   inflict  upon  the  most  miserable  of  mankind. 

The  history  of  the  miseries  which  they  suffered  in  the  re- 
spective sieges  is  calculated  to  inspire  us  with  horror,  and 
perfectly  accords  with  the  strong  painting  of  the  prophecy. 
Passing  over  the  destruction  of  their  city,  and  the  captivity 
of  their  nation  by  Nebuchadnezzar  king  of  Babylon,  I  shall 
only  present  you  with  a  brief  sketch  of  their  last  overthrow, 
the  most  fearful  scene  of  tlieir  calamities,  in  the  famous  siege 
of  Jerusalem  by  Titus,  the  son,  and  lieutenant  of  Vespasian. 
The  materials  of  this  representation  I  draw  entirely  from 
Josephus,  himself  a  Jew,  and  cotemporary  with  the  transac- 
tions which  he  relates,  who  could  have  no  motive  to  exagger- 
ate the  madness,  and  the  atrocious  passions  of  his  own  coun= 
trymen. 

Id  the  various  towns  of  Judea  besieged  and  taken  by 
the  Romans  during  this  desolating  and  exterminating  war^ 
their  furious  and  exasperated  soldiers  cut  off  the  whole  pop- 
ulation without  respecting  either  age  or  sex.  They  show- 
ed themselves,  in  the  words  of  Moses,  to  be  a  nation  of  a 
fierce  countenancey  rendered  more  ferocious  by  the  fury  with 

which  they  were  opposed,  ivlio  regarded  ixol  ihe  per^nv  of 

1« 


,  138 

the  oldf  nor  showed  favour  to  the  young.  But  it  was  in  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem  itself  that  the  measure  of  the  calamities  of 
the  Jews  became  full.  Pressed  from  without  by  all  the  arts 
of  war,  and  cut  oflf  entirely  from  supplies  of  provisions,  it  was 
difficult  to  saj  whether  hunger,  or  the  sword  destroyed  the 
greater  numbers.  Their  distresses  were  doubly  aggravated 
by  their  own  internal  dissensions.  Divided  into  most  violent 
factions  by  ambitious  or  enthusiastic  leaders,  they  often  fil- 
led the  streets  of  Jerusalem  with  mutual  slaughter.  Often 
they  only  suspended  their  own  conflicts  for  a  short  season  to 
run  to  their  walls  to  resist  the  assaults  of  the  common  enemy  ; 
and  returned  from  repulsing  them  to  butcher  one  another. 
It  seemed  as  if  heaven  had  smitten  the  murderers  of  the  Sa- 
viour of  the  world  with  a  desperate  phrenzy,  and  given  them 
up  to  the  dominion  of  the  most  diabolical  passions.  In  the 
midst  of  all  these  horrors,  famine  presents  us  with  a  spectacle 
still  more  horrible,  when  we  see  them,  driven  by  the  rage  of 
hunger,  with  cannibal  appetite,  to  devour  one  another,  and 
the  living  feedmg  on  those  who  had  died  of  disease,  or  of 
wounds.  Even  mothers,  quenching  all  the  sentiments  of  na- 
ture, devoured  their  own  children,  and  grudging  to  their 
husbands,  and  their  other  children  a  share  in  this  dreadful 
repast,  they  endeavoured,  after  having  satisfied  the  present 
cravings  of  their  own  hunger,  to  conceal  the  remaining  frag- 
ments from  the  voracious  rapacity  of  the  rest  of  the  family, 
reserving  them  as  a  precious  morsel  against  another  time. 
With  what  fearful  acsuracy  has  the  prediction  of  Moses  been 


139 

fulfilled !  "  And  thou  shalt  eat  the  fruit  of  thine  own  body, 
the  flesh  of  thy  sons,  and  thy  daughters,  in,  the  siege,  and  in 
the  straitness  wherewith  thine  enemies  shall  distress  thee ; 
so  that  the  man  who  is  tender  among  you  and  very  delicate,* 
his  eye  shall  be  evil  toward  his  brother,  and  toward  the  wife 
of  his  bosom,  and  toward  the  remnant  of  the  children  that 
he  shall  leave,  so  that  he  shall  not  give  to  any  of  them  of 
the  flesh  of  his  children  which  he  shall  eat.  The  tender 
and  delicate  woman  among  you,  who  would  not  venture  to 
set  the  sole  of  her  foot  upon  the  ground  for  delicateness,  and 
tenderness,  her  eye  shall  be  evil  toward  the  husband  of  her 
bosom,  and  toward  her  son,  and  toward  her  daughter,  and 
toward  her  young  infant,  even  toward  her  children  that  she 
shall  bear ;  for  she  shall  eat  them  for  want  of  all  things,  se- 
cretly, in  the  siege." 

One  example,  out  of  uiany  of  the  same  kind,  let  me  pro- 
duce to  show  the  frantic  despair  with  which  this  devoted 
people  hastened  their  own  destruction.  After  the  storming 
of  Jerusalem,  a  wretched  remnant  of  the  citizens  sought  ref- 
uge in  the  castle  of  Massada:  but  being  pressed  by  the  Ro- 
mans, they,  at  the  instigation  of  one  of  their  leaders,  first 
murdered  their  wives  and  children :  they  then  chose  by  lot 


*That  is,  who  has  been  most  softly  and  luxuriously  bred,  and  accustomed  to 
the  choicest  viands,  he  shall  now  be  reduced  to  these  wretched  and  horrible 
meals.  And  even  of  these  ke  sliall  grudge  tlie  smallest  share  to  those  who  were 
once  most  dear  to  him,  when  the  furious  rage  of  hunger  had  not  perverted  all  his 
sflfectioos. 


140 

ten  who  should  murder  all  the  rest ;  after  which  one  of  the 
ten  was  chosen  to  murder  the  other  nine  ;  who,  when  he  had 
executed  this  dreadful  office,  stabbed  himself.  In  this  man- 
ner perished  nine  hundred  and  sixty  persons  in  this  single 
fortress.*  And,  in  the  whole  war  there  were  destroj'^ed  by 
the  Romans,  by  famine,  and  by  their  own  hands,  upwards 
cf  twelve  hundred  thousand  persons,  besides  nearly  one  hun- 
dred thousand  who  were  taken  prisoners  and  sold  for  slaves.f 
Of  these  prisoners  so  little  care  was  taken,  that  eleven  thou- 
sand were  literally  starved  to  death ;  and,  of  the  remainder, 
the  greater  portion  were  sent  as  slaves  to  Egypt,  agreeably 
to  another  part  of  the  same  prophecy:  "  And  the  Lord  shall 
bring  thee  into  Egypt  with  ships,  and  there  ye  shall  be  sold 
to  your  enemies  for  bond  men,  and  bond  women ;  and  no 
man  shall  buy  you."  J  In  such  numbers  shall  you  be  brought 
to  the  market,  that  purchasers,  at  length,  will  no  longer 
fee  found. 

*  Jos.  de.  bell.  Jud.  lib.  7.  cap.  8,  9. 

f  Accurately,  according  to  Josephus,  the  dead  were  1,240,490;  and  the  prison- 
ers 99,200. 

I  Ch.  28.  V.  63.  The  Lord  shall  bring  thee  into  Egypt  nith  skips.  The  people 
of  Israel  came  out  of  Egypt  by  the  isthmus  of  Suez,  and  the  desert.  And  by  that 
route  tuey  usually  travelled  and  traded  to  that  count.-y.  But  it  was  more  conve- 
nient for  the  Romans  to  put  their  numerous  slaves  on  board  the  ships  belonging  to 
their  fleet,  or  on  board  Phenician  merchant  vessels,  to  transport  them  into  Egypt. 
As  this  was  a  mode  of  communication  pot  practised  in  the  time  of  Moses,  aad 
commerce  was  in  a  great  measure  interdicted  to  the  Israelites  by  their  institutions, 
this  circumstance  renders  this  part  of  tlie  prophecy  the  more  surprising,  and  ■^or 
thy  our  attention :  tftat  they  should  come  into  Egypt  in  ships. 


141 

So  conformable  was  this  disastrous  termination  of  the 
Jewish  state,  and  destruction  of  the  holy  citj,  to  the  pre- 
dictions both  of  Moses,  and  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ:  Fo}\  ihen,  there  shall  be  great  iribulaiion,  saith 
Christ,  "such as  was  not  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to 
this  time,  no  nor  ever  shall  be  ;  and  except  those  days  should 
be  shortened,  there  should  no  flesh  be  saved."* 

Let  us  pursue  the  prophecy  farther :  "  And  it  shall  come 
to  pass  that  ye  shall  be  plucked  from  off  the  land  whither 
thou  goest  to  possess  it.  And  the  Lord  shall  scatter  thee 
among  all  people,  from  one  end  of  the  earth  even  to  the 
other.  And  among  these  nations  shalt  thou  find  no  ease, 
neither  shall  the  sole  of  thy  foot  have  rest.  Here  is  a  new 
series  of  wonders.  That  a  nation  should  be  conquered, 
that  it  should  be  reduced  to  subjection,  that  it  should  be 
wholly  exterminated  by  some  barbarous  conqueror,  would 
not  be  so  extraordinary ;  because  the  history  of  the  worU 
affords  numerous  examples  of  similar  events.  But,  that  a 
whole  people  should  be  plucked  from  off  their  land,  should 
be  dispersed  in  broken  fragments  through  all  the  nations  of 
the  world,  and  yet  neither  be  blended  with  those  nations, 
nor  become  extinct,  is  a  catastrophe  so  singular,  a  state  so 
unprecedented,  that  a  prophet  who  was  not  uttering  a  pre- 


*  Mat.  24,21,22.     See  the  prediction  of  our  Saviour  beaDtifiilly  illustrated  by 
bishop  Porteus  \o  bis  ledure  upon  tfcis  chapter. 


342 

diction  dictated  by  the  divine  Spirit,  an  historian  who 
should  have  been  only  hazarding  a  conjecture  or  a  random 
oracle,  never  would  have  thought  of  one  which  no  fact  in 
history  ever  could  have  suggested,  which  no  experience  of 
the  revolutions  of  nations  ever  could  have  warranted.  If,  in 
the  infinite  combinations  of  the  operations  of  providence,  an 
oracle,  in  a  long  course  of  time,  might  accidentally  hit  upon 
one  corresponding  event,  is  it  within  the  compass  of  possi- 
bility that  either  random  conjecture,  or  the  most  sagacious 
human  foresight,  should  be  able  to  foretel,  and  accurately  to 
point  out,  such  a  united  series  of  facts,  continued  down 
through  such  a  long  succession  of  ages?  The  man,  who  can 
receive  this  as  either  probable  or  possible,  must  have  a  great 
facility  of  believing  indeed.  Do  we  not,  then,  see  the  Jew- 
ish nation  plucked  from  off  their  own  land  ?  Do  we  not  see 
them  scattered  among  all  people  from  one  end  of  the  earth 
even  unto  the  other  ?  And  is  it  not  true  that,  among  all  these 
nations  they  find  no  ease;  neither  is  there  rest  for  the  sole 
of  their  foot  ?  Perpetually  they  have  been  persecuted,  in- 
sulted, pillaged,  and  refused  all  the  common  privileges  of 
citizenship.  In  every  country  we  have  seen  them  alter- 
nately banished  and  recalled ;  and  recalled  only  to  be  pillag- 
ed, or  banished  again.  The  whole  history  of  that  afflicted 
people  since  their  dispersion  confirms  the  words  of  their 
great  prophet :  that  they  should  hecome  an  astonishment, 
a  proverb,  and  a  byervord  among  all  nations.'^     That  their 

*  Deut.  23.  37. 


143 

plagues  should  be  wonderfulf  even  great  plagues  and  of 
long  coniinuance.f 

A  circumstance  not  a  little  singular,  which  has  contribu- 
ted more  than  all  others  both  to  their  dispersion,  and  to  the 
injuries  which  they  have  suffered,  is  that,  in  almost  all  coun- 
Ities,  they  have  been  denied  the  privilege  of  holding  landed 
property.  This  has  induced  a  necessity,  contrary  to  the 
original  habits  of  the  nation,  to  turn  their  attention  to  com- 
merce, and  to  the  discount,  and  exchange  of  money  in  differ- 
ent forms.  Hence  has  resulted  the  further  necessity  of  dis- 
tributing them  as  traders,  and  brokers  or  bankers,  into  vari- 
ous nations.  Their  wealth,  accumulated  by  these  means, 
excited  both  the  envy  of  the  people,  and  the  avarice  of  their 
rulers,  and  pointed  them  out  as  an  easy  prey  to  violent  and 
arbitrary  princes,  whenever  the  public  coffers  were  empty. 
The  extreme  uncertainty  of  their  state  tempted  them  to  de- 
mand usurious  interest  in  their  contracts  for  money  lending. 
Hence  the  public  hatred,  in  every  country  was  inflamed 
against  them,  and  justified,  in  the  public  esteem,  the  rapaci- 
ty and  violence  of  the  princes  who  oppressed  them.  A  thou- 
sand wicked  and  malicious  tales  were  fabricated  against 
them.  A  thousand  crimes  were  imputed  to  them ;  and 
they  were  often  given  up  to  the  fanatical  rage  of  the  popu- 
lace. Thus  has  their  character  been  in  a  great  measure  for- 
med by  their  state,  and  their  persecutions  have  often  sprung 

'■  lb.  V.  .W, 


144 

out  of  their  character.  This,  together  with  the  barbarous  su- 
perstitions and  the  barbarous  forms  of  civil  government  which, 
for  many  ages  disgraced  Europe,  completed  their  misery. 

On  a  review  of  this  history,  may  I  not  justly  demand 
again,  who  could  have  foreseen  national  characteristics,  and 
situations  so  uncommon,  so  singular  :  circumstances  so  vari- 
ous and  complicated,  destined  to  take  place  in  such  remote 
ages,  but  the  Spirit  of  God  alone  ?  In  order  to  evade  the  al- 
most irresistible  evidence  of  this  conclusion,  we  have  seen 
infidel  writers  resort  to  the  ridiculous  subterfuge  of  saying 
that  the  verification  of  the  prediction  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the 
christians  who  have  ingeniously  contrived  to  give  authentici- 
ty to  their  own  scriptures,  by  promoting  the  fulfilment  of 
their  prophecies.  But  have  not  these  prophecies  been  ful- 
filled under  the  dominion  of  pagan  and  mahometan  nations, 
as  well  as  of  the  christian  ?  If  the  allegation,  however,  were 
well  founded,  whence  could  Moses  have  foreseen  the  exis- 
tence of  the  christian  religion,  and  the  interest  which  the 
christians,  as  a  sect,  would  have  in  giving  effect  to  his  own 
prophecy  ?  Whence  could  he  have  foreseen  those  commer- 
cial, political,  moral,  and  religious  institutions,  which,  by 
their  influence  on  the  character  of  the  nations  who  should 
embrace  Christianity,  would  thus  cruelly  affect  the  condition 
of  the  Jews  ?  Surely,  if  men  were  not  blinded  by  their  pre- 
judices, they  would  see  that  the  wonder  here,  is  not  in  the 
least  diminished  by  this  absurd  supposition. 


145 

With  equal  folly  and  ignorance  it  has  been  alleged  that 
this  prediction  was  composed  by  Ezra,  or  some  of  his  coun- 
trymen, after  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  the  Babylonish 
captivity ;  that  it  has  a  relation  solely  to  that  event ;  and 
that  hence  alone  we  must  account  for  the  very  circumstaur 
tial  narration  of  several  particulars  during  the  siege,  and  the 
exact  delineation  of  the  consequent  state  of  the  nation. 

Men  who  undertake  to  write  and  pronounce  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  religion,  without  (he  trouble  of  candidly  inquiring  in- 
to its  truth,  seem  to  think  themselves  entitled  to  make,  with- 
out shame  or  compunction,  the  most  extravagant  and  improb- 
able assertions.  This  allegation  is  demonstrated  to  be  utter- 
ly iuipossible  by  reference  only  to  the  Samaritan  copy  of  the 
pentateuch.*     This  ancient  book,  which  contains  the  whole 


*  Ten  tribes  of  the  people  of  Israel  withdrew  themselves  from  the  govern- 
ment of  the  house  of  Solomon  under  the  reign  of  Rehoboam.  In  their  aepa- 
ration  they  still  professed  to  adhere  to  the  law  of  Moses,  which  had  been 
common  to  the  whole  nation.  The  five  books,  therefore,  which  were  writtea 
by  him,  and  which  contained  his  whole  law,  they  preserved  with  no  less  ven- 
eration than  did  the  Jews.  When  the  ten  tribes  were  led  into  captivity  by 
the  kings  of  Babylon,  they  were  replaced  by  a  new  and  mixed  face  called 
Samaritans,  from  the  name  of  their  capital  city  Samaria.  These  people,  re- 
siding in  the  land  of  Israel,  and  mixing  with  the  remnant  of  its  former  id- 
habitants,  still  received  the  law  of  Mo.ses  as  their  civil  and  religious  code ; 
but  admitted  none  of  the  writings  of  the  .Jewish  prophets.  Perpetual  hatreds, 
and  a  most  hostile  spirit,  always  existed  between  the  revolted  tribes  first,  and 
afterwards  the  Samaritans,  and  the  people  of  the  Jews.  Both  nations  pre- 
served the  law  of  Moses  with  the  same  sacredness.  Tiie  language  is  the  same. 
But  the  Jewish  copy  of  the  law  is  written  in  the  Chaldce  character,  which 
became  familiar  to  the  Jews  during  their  captivity  at  Babyljn ;  the  Samaritaa 
is  writtea  ja  Vac  old  Hebrew,  or  Phenecian  letter,  which  ivas  eominon  to  the 

JO 


146 

law  of  Moses,  was  continually  read  in  Ihe  religious  assem- 
blies of  that  people,  so  hostile  to  the  Jews,  during  a  period 
of  four  hundred  jears  anterior  to  the  capture  of  Jerusalem 
bj  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  still  longer  before  the  age  of 
Ezra,  and  the  copy  of  the  scriptures  collected  by  that  emi- 
nent scribe.  Here,  then,  is  a  copy  of  the  Mosaic  Law,  re- 
tained in  the  hands  of  rivals  and  of  enemies,  which  renders 
it  of  the  more  unsuspected  credit,  that  demonstrates  the  ex- 
istence of  the  prophecy  sca  eral  centuries  before  the  era  of 
the  Babylonish  captivity.  But  the  prophecy  contains  the 
evidence  within  itself  that  its  principal  reference  is  to  the  Rod- 
man conquest,  and  to  the  state  of  the  Jews  since  that  period. 
It  is  a  miracle,  then,  continually  presented  to  your  eyes  :  it 
!s  a  prophecy  every  day  fulfilling  in  your  sight  after  a  lapse 
of  more  than  three  thousand  years. 

PROPHECIES  CONCERNING  THE  MESSIAH. 

No  evidence  for  the  truth  of  the  Christian  revelation,  de- 
rived from  the  predictions  of  the  holy  scriptures,  appears  to 
me  more  clear  and  strong  than  that  which  results  from  that 
stream  of  prophecy  concerning  a  future  Messiah ;    which, 


whole  nation  before  the  captivity.  This  is  tliat  wliich  is  called  the  Samari- 
tan pentateuch.  And  this  old  letter,  in  which  the  law  is  preserved  by  tliem, 
is  another  proof  of  the  antiquity  of  the  Samaritan  copy.  It  is  doubtless  the 
letter  which  Moses  himself  used,  and  communicated  to  the  people  of  Israel. 
And  the  Jews  changed  it,  in  their  copies  of  the  law  after  the  captivity,  for 
the  Chaldee,  only  because  the  latter,  by  a  long  residence  in  Babylon,  had 
become  more  fanailiar  to  them. 


147 

commencing  with  the  earliest  periods  of  time,  terminates,  al 
length,  in  Jesus  Christ.  We  trace  it  from  Adam,  in  that 
mystical  promise,  the  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the  ser- 
pents head,  down  through  the  line  of  patriarchs  and  prophets 
to  the  time  of  Christ  himself,  in  whom  all  the  prophecies,  and 
types  of  the  ancient  dispensations  have  been  completed,  and 
the  expectations  of  the  whole  world  fulfilled.  For,  it  is  a 
circumstance  particularly  deserving  your  attention,  that  there 
was  no  civilized  nation  of  antiquity,  in  which  were  not  found 
traditions  concerning  ^  divine  personage  who  should  appear 
upon  earth  to  teach  men  the  true  knowledge  of  God,  their 
duties,  and  their  hopes,  and  lo  restore  the  reign  of  righteous- 
ness and  peace  to  the  world  afflicted  with  miseries  and 
crimes.  This  was  a  natural  consequence  of  the  piety  and 
prophetic  character  of  the  father  of  the  race  after  the  deluge. 
Instructing  his  children,  who  were  destined  to  be  the  found- 
ers of  the  future  nations  of  the  world,  in  the  principles  of 
piety  and  virtue,  he  would  be  especially  solicitous  to  instil 
into  their  minds  this  sublime  and  blessed  hope,  which  was 
given  by  God  as  the  consolation  of  man  in  the  depth  of  his 
affliction  after  the  full.  If  the  mosaic  history  of  the  world 
be  true,  if  Adam,  after  his  fall,  received  this  consolatory 
promise ;  and  if  Noah  were  a  good  man,  and  a  prophet  ;* 


*■  From  the  pious  and  prophetic  ciiaracter  ascribed  to  Noah  in  the  sacred  writ- 
ings, we  ought  to  expect  among  his  near  descendants,  the  founders  of  the  various 
nations  of  the  world,  many  good  men,  well  instructed  in  the  principles  of  religion 
as  far  as  they  were  known  to  him,  and  ia  tlio-e  iraditionarj- predictions  ■svliich 


148 

tben  ought  we  to  expect  to  find  this  original  prediction  and 
promise,  with  more  or  less  clearness,  among  the  traditions  of 
all  the  primitive  nations  of  mankind  ;  and,  finding  it  among 
all  nations,  as  we  do,  it  may  justly  be  considered  as  an  abso- 
lute verification  of  the  account  of  Moses,  and  of  the  existence 
of  this  prophecy  from  the  beginning  ;  for  we  can  hardly  con- 
ceive of  any  other  mode  in  which  it  could  have  been  so  uni- 
versally diffused.  It  received  further  elucidation  and  exten- 
sion,  in  the  progress  of  time,  by  succeeding  patriarchs  and 
prophets.  The  knowledge  of  it  became  more  definite  by 
the  dispersion  of  the  Jewish  nation,  who  carried  their  sacred 
writings  with  them  in  all  their  wanderings.  At  length  the 
precise  period,  at  which  the  Messiah  should  appear,  became 
fixed  and  settled  in  prophecy.  And,  at  the  moment  that  his 
birth  was  announced,  the  world  was  waiting  for  the  event 
yrith  anxious  and  universal  expectation.     The  harmonious 


had  been  imparted  either  to  himself,  or  to  antecedent  patriarchs  and  prophets. 
These,  of  course,  would  be  transmitted  to  their  posterity,  and,  for  several  gene- 
rations, perhaps,  in  a  considerable  degree  of  purity.  But,  at  length,  becoming 
corrupted,  and  blended  with  many  fables,  and  liaving  descended  so  far  from  their 
source  that  their  true  origin  was  in  a  great  measure  forgotten,  or  in  danger  of  be- 
ing so,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  some  good  men,  in  diiferent  nations,  in  or- 
der to  prevent  them  from  utterly  falling  into  oblivion  ;  or  some  cunning  and  am- 
bitious men,  that  they  might  themselves  pass  for  prophets,  or  be  acknowledged  as 
lawgivers  divinely  instructed,  would  commit  them  to  writing,  mixing  with  them 
other  matter  connected  with  civil  policy,  or  religion,  and  giving  them  a  form  ac- 
cording to  the  genius  and  views  of  the  authors.  Hence,  perhaps,  the  origin  of  the 
sjibylline  verses,  or  oracles  at  Rome,  and  of  other  similar  works  to  which  a  sacred 
veneration  was  paid  in  various  countries  of  antiquity.  And  hence  the  resemblancf? 
of  these  traditions  in  many  respects  to  one  another,  and  to  the  sacred  scriptures. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  these  traditions  might  have  afterwards  received  greater 
clearness  and  precision  from  the  sacred  writings,  whieh  wtre  dispersedi^  along  witi^ 


149 

muse  of  Virgil  has  presented  to  us  the  character  of  the  ex- 
pected Prince  and  Saviour,  drawn  from  tradition,  and  has  ex* 
hibited  the  general  hope  and  solicitude  of  the  nations  for  his 
appearance  at  that  time,*  in  an  exquisite  poem,  and  almost 
in  prophetic  numbers.f  "  The  last  age,  says  he,  is  at  length 
arrived,  predicted  by  the  prophetess  of  Cumae.  The  mighty- 
order  of  ages  begins  to  circle  anew.  Justice  returns  to  the 
earth,  and  the  happy  reign  of  Saturn ;  and  from  heaven  de- 
scends a  new,  and  divine  offspring.  Soon  shall  the  great 
months  begin  to  revolv  e  ;  and  every  vestige  of  our  former 
crimes  shall  be  effaced :  thus  shall  the  earth  be  redeemed 
from  the  distressing  causes  of  perpetual  fear.     He  shall  par- 


the  people  of  Israel  and  Judea,  after  their  respective  captivities,  through  all  the 
nations  of  the  East.  To  the  holy  records  the  name  of  Daniel  would  naturally 
give  great  authority,  who,  during  many  years,  directed  all  the  principal  operations 
of  the  vast  empires  of  Babylon,  and  Persia,  which  extended  over  the  greater  part 
•f  the  Asiatic  continent. 

*  The  time  at  which  this  great  poet  wrote  was  but  a  few  years  before  the 
birth  of  Clirist. 

f  Ultima  Ciimaei  venit  jam  carminis  aetasj 
Magnus  ab  integro  seclorum  nascitur  ordo-.. 
Jam  redit  et  Virgo ;  redeunt  Saturnia  regna ; 
Jam  nova  progenies  ccelo  dimittitiir  alto. 

♦ Incipient  magni  procedere  menses, 

Te  duce,  siqua  manent  sceleris  vestigia  nostri, 
Irrita  perpotua  solvent  formidine  terras. 

Ille  deum  vitara  accipiet, 

Pacatumque  reget  patrils  virtutibus  orbem. 
Aggredere  O  magnos,  aderit  jam  tempus  honores, 
Cara  Deiim  soboles  !  magnum  Jovis  incrementum ! 

The  whole  eclogue  is  well  known  to  have  been  intended  as  a  complirafttit 
to  Pollio's  son,  but  it  is  equally  well  k;iown  t^  be  borrowed  front  a  pre-valeat 
opinion  rr  tradition,'  ' 


iake  of  the  life  of  gods.  And  he  shall  rule  the  peaceful  world 
with  his  Father's  virtues.  The  tiaie  is  now  at  hand.  Enter 
on  thy  mighty  honours,  dear  offspring  of  the  gods  !  O  son 
of  supreme  Jove !"  What  a  resemblance  do  we  perceive  in 
these  strains  of  the  Roman  poet,  to  those  of  a  Hebrew  pro- 
phet !  In  the  same  spirit  proceeds  the  whole  of  this  admi- 
rable poem,  which  might  be  esteemed  an  almost  literal  trans- 
lation of  many  of  the  most  beautiful  passages  in  the  prophet 
Isaiah.  And  it  is,  indeed,  far  from  being  improbable  that 
Virgil  was  acquainted  with  the  prophetic  scriptures,  as  they 
had,  long  before  this  period,  been  translated  into  the  polite 
and  universal  language  of  the  Greeks.  Thus  much,  at  least, 
appears  to  be  certain,  that  an  acquaintance  with  the  writings 
of  the  Jews,  seems  to  have  excited,  or  renewed  the  attention 
of  mankind  to  this  great  event  as  being  near  at  hand,  a  vague 
expectation  of  which  had  been  long  nourished  by  the  ancient 
traditions  of  their  respective  countries.  Suetonius  and  Taci- 
tus, whose  historical  accuracy  and  judgment  have  placed 
them  in  the  very  first  rank  of  historians,  both  inform  us  "  that 
there  prevailed  over  the  whole  East,  an  ancient  and  fixed 
opinion,  that  there  should,  at  that  time,  arise  a  person  out  of 
Judea,  who  should  obtain  the  dominion  of  the  world."*  They 


*  Neither  the  Pagans,  nor  the  great  body  even  of  the  Jewish  nation,  could 
er.sily  form  just  conceptions  of  the  nature  of  that  spiritual  kingdom  which  the 
Son  of  God  was  coming  to  establish  among  men ;  they  therefore  interpreted 
the  figurative  language  in  which  it  was  described  in  their  traditions,  and  pro- 
phecies, zni  by  their  respective  poets,  rf  Euch   tPinporal  power,   glory,  and 


151 

say,  indeed,  that  popular  flattejy,  or  credulily^,  applied  these 
traditionaiy  oracles  to  the  RomaD  eoiperor  Vespasian,  who 
had  been  raised  to  the  empire  by  the  eastern  legions,  about 
the  time  that  he  engaged  in  the  Jewish  wars.  But  common 
sense  must  convince  every  thinking  man,  that  expectations  so 
universal,  founded  on  predictions  which  had  been  transmit- 
ted down  through  ages,  always  pointing  to  the  same  period, 
and  to  a  divine  personage  of  the  most  sublime  character,  who 
should  appear  upon  earth  for  the  destruction  of  vice,  and  the 
establishment  of  righteousness,  must  have  had  a  different  ori- 
gin from  an  accidental  rumour  generated,  one  knows  not  how, 
and  passing  away  with  the  events  of  the  day ;  and  a  very- 
different  object  from  Vespasian,  who  had  nothing  to  distin- 
guish him  from  so  many  other  soldiers  of  fortune  who  had 
been  raised  from  the  ranks  to  the  imperial  purple. 

Recent  researches  into  the  history  and  antiquities  of  mosi 
of  the  eastern  nations,  and  particularly  of  Persia,  India,  and 
China,  have  proved  that  similar  traditions,  to  those  which 
Virgil  has  shown  us  to  have  prevailed  in  the  Roman  empire, 
have  existed  among  them  from  immemorial  time. 

In  these  facts  we  have  an  extraordinary  moral  phenome- 
non presented  to  our  reflections,  which  carries  in  itself  no 


empire,  as  were  adapted  to  the  grossness  of  their  imaginations.  The  imageiy. 
however,  which  tbey  employed,  oug^ht  to  hiu  p  l<=d  their  minds  to  purer  and 
Kublimer  vi'^^rc. 


152 

small  degree  of  evidence,  that  the  traditions  relative  to  a  fu- 
ture divine  teacher,  and  legislator  to  come  into  the  world 
were  founded  in  original  prophecy;  and  that  all  the  prophecies 
of  the  holy  scriptures  relating  to  this  object  were  actual  inspi» 
rations  from  Heaven,  and  had  their  full  completion  in  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  For  before  the  birth  of  Christ  all  nar 
tions  had  their  traditions,  and  their  predictions  concerning 
such  a  divine  messenger  as  the  scriptures  have  described, 
and  held  out  to  the  hopes  of  mankind,  through  all  the  line  of 
their  patriarchs  and  prophets,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world.  These  prophecies,  and  these  traditions  all  pointed 
nearly  to  the  same  country,  and  to  the  same  period.  Accord- 
ingly at  that  period,  and  in  that  country,  when  expectation, 
nursed  by  the  belief  of  ages,  was  all  alive,  arose  a  man  claim- 
ing his  birth  from  Heaven,  who  united  in  himself  all  the  cha- 
racters ascribed  in  ancient  proj)hecy  to  the  future  3Iessiah. 
He  has  taught  mankind  the  purest,  and  sublimest  notions  of 
God ;  he  has  established  among  his  disciples  the  most  holy 
and  rational  worship  of  the  Supreme  Being,  instead  of  those 
groveling  and  corrupted  superstitions  which  had  before  en- 
slaved the  greater  portion  of  the  world ;  he  has  proclaimed 
to  the  universe  the  most  perfect  law  of  morals ;  he  has 
brought  life  and  immortality  to  light,  confirming  it  by  his  own 
resurrection,  after  having  submitted  to  death,  as  he  declared, 
for  the  sins  of  the  world  ;  and,  certainly,  his  doctrines  have 
produced  the  greatest  and  happiest  revolution  which  has 
ever  taken  place  in  the  moral  ideas,  and  the  manners  of  man- 


155 

kind.  And,  since  his  appearance,  we  see  that  those  exp^C» 
tations,  which  before  were  so  ardent  and  so  universal,  have 
everj  where  ceased ;  for,  to  believers^  they  have  been  com- 
pletely realized,  and,  to  all  others,  if  JesiJs  Christ  is  not  the 
divine  messenger  and  prince  who  was  to  come,  there  is  no 
longer  any  foundation  on  which  they  could  be  supported. 
Here  then  is  a  mighty  stream  of  prophecy  commencing  with 
the  history  of  the  world  itself,  and  continued  down  through 
successive  ages  to  the  era  of  Christ,  which  carries  in  its 
commencement,  its  extent,  its  progress,  and  its  termination-, 
shall  I  not  say,  infallible  signatures  of  divine  truth.  Here 
we  behold  an  emanation  of  prophetic  light  darting  its  distant 
rays  upon  this  glorious  object  from  the  beginning  of  time. 
At  first,  indeed,  it  appears  faint  and  feeble  like  the  dawn 
when  it  begins  to  break  upon  the  darkness  of  the  night ;  but, 
as  the  sun  of  righteousness  approaches  to  his  rising,  we  see 
it  continually  becoming  more  luminous  and  distinct.  At 
length,  we  behold  this  spiritual  sun  appearing  in  all  his  glo- 
ry in  the  heavenS;  and  divine  truth  beaming  in  its  full  lustre 
on  the  nations. 

The  holy  prophets  have  not  only  announced  a  future  Mes- 
siah to  the  world,  who  should  derive  his  birth  immediately 
from  Heaven,  but,  in  the  progress  of  that  illumination  which 
gradually  arose  with  increasing  brightness  upon  the  ancient 
church,  they  were  enabled  at  last  to  delineate  his  character, 
as  well  as  to  foretel  the  time  of  his  appearance  upon  the 

20 


154 

6arth,  with  such  exactness,  and  with  such  distinguishing 
traits,  as  necessarily  to  add  great,  not  to  say  invincible  au- 
thority to  their  predictions.  It  is  not  my  design  to  trace  out 
the  progressive  stages  of  prophetic  h'ght,  under  the  ancient 
dispensations  of  grace,  in  the  figurative  promise  given  to 
Adam ;  in  the  symbolic  and  practical  revelation  made  to 
Abraham  in  the  command  to  sacrifice  his  son  on  Mount  Mo- 
riah ;  or  in  the  analogy  by  which  Moses  instructed  the 
church  of  Israel :  A  prophet  shall  the  Lord  your  God  raise 
up  to  yoUy  like  unto  me  ;  him  shall  ye  hear.  These,  and  a 
thousand  other  gradual  developements  of  his  character,  and 
offices,  I  shall  pass  over,  to  come  at  once  to  that  ultimate  de- 
gree of  illumination  which  God  was  pleased  to  afford  the  an- 
cient church,  when  the  mosaic  dispensation  was  approaching 
towards  a  close.  Then  we  find,  especially  in  the  prophet 
Isaiah,  such  striking  delineations  of  the  mediatorial  character 
of  Christ,  so  extraordinary,  and  yet  so  accurate  and  just,  as 
must  affect  with  mingled  wonder  and  devotion,  every  reflect- 
ing, and  candid  inquirer  after  truth.  In  the  Messiah,  as  he 
appears  exhibited  by  the  Spirit  which  animated  the  prophets, 
are  united  such  opposite  extremes  of  grandeur  and  humility, 
of  omnipotence  and  weakness,  of  celestial  perfection  and  hu- 
man infirmity,  as  men,  writing  from  the  impulse  merely  of 
their  own  minds,  whether  we  suppose  them  inflamed  with  en« 
thusiasra,  or  acting  under  the  direction  of  the  cold  and  calcu- 
lating genius  of  imposture,  would  never  have  brought  togeth- 
er.   A  heavenly  messenger  sent  on  the  most  important  er- 


153 

rand  to  mortals,  a  prince  claiming  his  descent  from  Heaven, 
who  was  to  extend  the  empire  of  peace,  and  righteousness 
over  the  universe,  to  compose  its  disorders,  and  put  an  end 
to  its  crimes,  if  the  picture  were  drawn  merely  from  the  ima- 
gination of  the  writer,  would  be  invested  only  with  those  no- 
ble and  divine  attributes  which  would  become  his  relation  to 
God.  It  never  would  have  entered  into  a  reasonable  mind, 
judging  on  the  common  principles  of  human  nature,  to  com- 
bine with  these  celestial  properties  and  powers,  poverty  and 
weakness,  insult  and  disgrace,  humiliation  and  suffering. 
But  God,  who  was  preparing,  at  once,  an  instructor  and  a 
sacrifice,  a  king  and  a  victim,  for  a  fallen,  and  redeemed 
race,  and  who,  for  this  end,  united  in  the  same  person  the 
most  distant  extremes  of  heavenly  glory  and  of  human  infir- 
mity, so  overruled  the  minds  of  the  prophets  that  they 
have  drawn  a  character  which  they  themselves  could  not 
comprehend,  or  explain ;  which,  left  to  themselves,  they 
never  would  have  conceived,  and  which  could  be  under- 
stood only  by  the  coming  of  the  great  Archetype  himself. 

Let  us  contemplate  the  various,  and  apparently  contradic- 
tory lights  in  which  he  is  represented  to  us  by  the  spirit  of 
prophecy.  Unto  us  sailh  the  phophet  Isaiah,  a  child  is 
born ;  unto  us  a  son  is  given  ;  and  the  government  shall 
be  upon  his  shoidders ,  and  his  name  shall  be  called  Won- 
derful,  Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting  Fa- 
therf  the  Prince  of  Peace.     And  of  the  increase  of  his  go- 


156 

af'ernment  and  peace  there  shall  be  no  end.^  And  in  other 
parts  of  that  sublime  and  wonderful  book,  he  is  exhibited  in 
such  circumstances  of  humiliation  and  affliction  that  it  would 
be  difficult,  without  the  guidance  of  that  divine  Spirit  who 
inspired  the  prophet,  to  conceive  how  they  should  be  appli- 
ed to  the  same  person.  "  He  is  despised,"  says  he,  "  and 
rejected  of  men ;  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief.  Surely,  he  hath  borne  our  griefs,  and  carried  our 
sorrows :  yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken,  smitten  of  God, 
and  afflicted.  But  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions  ; 
he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities ;  and  the  Lord  hath  laid  up- 
on him  the  iniquity  of  us  all.  He  was  oppressed,  and  he 
was  afflicted  :  he  is  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter ;  and, 
as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  openeth  not 
his  mouth.  *  He  was  taken  off  by  an  oppressive  judgment  :'-j- 
and  who  shall  declare  his  generation  ?  It  pleased  the  Lord 
to  bruise  him :  he  hath  put  him  to  grief.  When  thou  shalt 
make  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin,  he  shall  see  his  seed,  he 
shall  prolong  his  days ;  and  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall 
prosper  in  his  hands,"  J  The  actual  coming  of  the  Saviour 
alone  has  been  able  to  reconcile  all  these  apparent  prophetic 
contradictions,  and  to  vindicate  the  inspiration  of  the  holy 
prophets.  In  his  birth  announced  by  angels,  and  his  dealh^ 
among  malefactors ;  in  the  miraculous  and  omnipotent  pow- 


Isaiah  Qth.  6th,  7th.        f  Bishop  Lowth's  translation,  v.  8, 
\  Isaiah  S3U.  3d— lOtS. 


i5r 

crs  by  which  he  attested  his  Heavenly  mission,  and  the 
weakness  which  subjected  him  to  the  power  of  sinful  men ; 
in  his  yielding  to  death  in  its  most  ignominious  form,  and  his 
resurrection  and  triumph  over  it ;  in  his  descent  from  Heav- 
en to  invest  himself  with  the  infirmities  of  human  nature,  and 
again,  in  his  ascension  tg  his  primitive  glory  which  he  had 
with  his  Father  before  the  rvorld  was,  we  see  extremes 
which  God  only  could  unite ;  we  behold  a  character  which 
the  Spirit  of  God  alone  could  have  suggested  to  the  minds  of 
the  prophets;  we  discern  the  justification  of  the  prophets, 
and  their  truth  triumphantly  confirmed ;  and,  in  the  confir- 
mation of  their  truth,  we  see  the  infallible  verification  of  our 
holy  religion.  For  the  Messiah,  as  he  appears  in  the  strains 
of  the  prophets,  and  Jesus  Christ,  as  he  appears  in  the  gos- 
pel, are  characters  so  entirely  out  of  nature,  so  utterly  be- 
yond human  conception  and  contrivance,  that  the  corres- 
pondence of  the  prophecy  to  the  history,  and  of  the  history, 
to  the  prophecy,  ought  to  be  regarded  as  an  irrefragable  de- 
monstration of  the  truth  of  both. 

Having  pointed  out  to  you  the  early  prophecy  of  a  Mes-. 
siah  in  the  first  promise  made  to  man  after  his  fall ;  the  grad- 
ual and  increasing  light  which  was  shed  on  this  primary  pre= 
diction,  in  the  progressive  dispensations  of  divine  provi- 
dence ;  the  universal  expectation  which  was  entertained  of 
the  appearance  of  such  a  divine  personage  upon  eartli,  found- 
fp-d  probably  on  an  original  revelation  made  to  the  father  of 


168 

the  race,  and  revived,  and  rendered  more  definite  and  clear 
bj  the  dispersion  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  the  Jewish  scrip- 
tares,  into  the  various  regions  of  the  East. 

The  patriarch  Jacob,  just  before  his  death,  taking,  under 
the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  a  prospective  view  of  the 
destinies  of  his  respective  children,  and  their  posterity,  de- 
livers to  Judah,  his  oldest  son,  this  remarkable  prediction, 
with  regard  to  the  permanence  of  his  dominion,  and  the  de- 
scent of  the  Messiah  from  him.  The  sceptre  shall  not  de- 
part  from  Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  hetmeen  hisfeety  un- 
til Shiloh  comej  and  to  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  pea- 
pU  be.^ 

The  most  accurate  and  learned  criticism  applied  to  the 
terms  in  this  passage  translated  sceptre  and  laivgiver  leaves 
little  room  to  doubt  but  that  they  imply  the  powers  of  civil 
government  in  the  Jewish  nation.  And  the  interpretation 
aniversally  given  by  the  ancient  Jewish  church,  and  by  the 
whole  nation  of  Israel,  to  the  name  oi  Shiloh,  (for  they  con- 
stantly interpreted  it  of  the  Messiah  who  was  to  come)  is  a 
proof  that  our  application  of  it  to  the  ever  blessed  Saviour, 


*  Deut.  28th,  57th.  The  term  Skiloh,  according  to  the  root  from  which  it  is 
derived,  may  signify  either  the  prepared,  the  sent,  or  the  giver  of  peace,  any  or 
all  of  which,  evidently  referring  to  the  character  and  office  of  the  expected  Mes- 
siah. Till  his  coming,  the  tribe  of  Judah  should  enjoy  hereditary  and  sovereign 
power  within  itself;  the  phrase/rom  between  his  feet,  being  a  modest  Hebraism. 
I'X  a  natural  descendant  of  bis  family. 


159 

our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Is  not,  according  to  the  assertions,  or 
insinuations  of  many  infidels,  merely  a  recent,  and  conveni- 
ent adaptation  of  a  dubious  term  by  christian  writers  to  the 
purposes  of  their  faith.  No  term  has  had  a  more  precise, 
and  less  doubtful  signification  given  to  it  by  the  uniform  voice 
of  all  antiquity. 

The  import  of  this  prediction,  therefore,  is,  that  the  tribe 
of  Judah  should  preserve  a  national  existence,  and  continue 
to  exercise  the  essential  powers  of  civil  government,  till  the 
advent  of  that  great  deliverer  expected  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world.  This  peculiar  distinction  of  Judah,  arising 
from  the  possession  and  exercise  of  the  powers  of  govern- 
menT,  seems  indirectly  to  imply  that  this  prerogative  should 
be  lost  by  the  other  tribes  before  the  coming  of  the  Mes- 
siah. And  has  not  this  prophecy,  both  in  its  direct,  and  its 
Implied  meaning,  been  completely  fulfilled?  All  the  tribes  of 
Israel  except  that  of  Judah  had  lost  their  national  existence, 
and  even  the  distinction  of  their  tribes,  long  before  the  birth 
of  Christ;  having  been  either  blended  with  the  tribe  of  Ju- 
dah, or  dispersed  and  lost  among  the  various  nations  compo- 
sing the  Babylonian  empire.*     Judah  retained  both  the 


*  Some  colonies  of  people  possessing  the  law  of  Moses,  and  profefsing  to  go- 
vern themselves  by  its  moral  and  religious  rites  and  institutions,  as  far  as  their 
present  situation  will  permit,  have  been  discovered  in  the  interior  of  Imlia,  and 
on  the  borders  of  China,  who  are  evidently  descendants  of  the  ten  tribes  who 
were  carried  away  into  captivity  by  the  kings  of  Bnbylon,  before  the  destructioa 
of  Jerusalem  in  the  reign  of  Zedekiah,  and  the  raplivity  of  the  tribe  of  Judnli. 


160 

sceptre  of  executive  power,  and  the  prerogative  of  interpre- 
ting, and  administering  their  own  law  till  the  advent  of  the 
Saviour.  Christ  was  born  in  the  reign  of  Herod,  the  last 
prince  who  swayed  the  sceptre  of  Judah,  and  but  a  few 
years  before  the  final  extinction  of  the  supreme  judical,  le- 
gislative, and  religious  authority  of  the  nation  ;  and  even  of 
the  nation  itself  as  a  distinct  civil  community.  For,  after 
Herod,  the  government  of  the  Jews  was  for  a  short  time  di- 
vided among  several  petty  princes,  who  possessed  only  the 
semblance  of  authority,  under  the  supreme  power  of  the  Ro- 
mans ;  and,  on  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  which  followed 
in  a  few  years,  the  miserable  remnants  of  that  people,  whom 
a  foreign  sword,  and  the  most  frightful  civil  discord,  had 
spared,  were  dispersed  into  all  nations  under  heaven.  And 
in  this  state  of  dispersion  they  remain,  the  visible  monuments 
of  the  divine  judgments,  to  this  day. 

Let  me,  then,  express  the  spirit  of  this  prophecy  in  the 
following  reflections.  The  typical  church  and  kingdom  of 
the  Messiah  shall  exist,  till  his  advent,  in  the  nation  of  Israel, 
and  particularly  in  the  tribe  of  Judah ;  in  which  tribe  shall  be 
vested  and  continued,  for  this  purpose,  all  the  powers  of  go- 


They  possess  none  of  the  prophetic  writings  after  the  age  of  David.  And  their 
copies  of  the  pentateuch  are  plainly  of  the  most  remote  antiquity ;  as  appeart 
from  the  kind  of  skins  on  which  they  are  written,  and  from  the  circumstance  of 
the  letters,  in  many  places,  not  being  distinguishable,  except  by  traces  left  ie 
the  skins,  whicU  have  been  made  by  the  conosion  of  the  lifjuid  with  which  they 
weye  originally  traced. 


161 

>ernment  both  civil  and  religious.  But  when  the  Messiah 
shall  have  come,  the  reasons,  for  which  this  people,  is  chosen 
by  God,  and  separated  as  a  church  to  hiuiself  from  all  the 
other  nations  of  the  earth,  shall  cease  ;  and  then  shall  termi^ 
nate  their  national,  and  typical  existence.  The  spiritual  em= 
pire  of  the  Redeemer  shall,  after  this  period,  embrace  all  na- 
lions  without  distinction,  or  preference  ;  and  to  him  shall  the 
gathering  of  the  people^  be.  With  what  wonderful  exact- 
ness, then,  have  we  seen  this  venerable  patriarch  and  pro^ 
phet,  determine  the  era  of  this  great  event  ;  trace  out  the 
destinies  of  his  several  eons,  and  restrict  to  Judah,  the  pecu- 
liar benediction  of  Abraham,  which  consisted  in  this  promise : 
in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed. 

About  the  period  of  the  birth  of  Christ,  the  visible  de- 
cline of  the  Jewish  state,  and  its  rapid  tendency  to  dissolu- 
tion, indicated,  by  manifest  and  unequivical  symptoms,  to  ob- 
serving and  reflecting  minds,  the  approach  of  the  great  era 
fixed  for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah.  Therefore  Simeon, 
and  many  other  pious  Jews,  were  waitings  at  this  time,  with 
anxious  expectation,  for  the  hope  of  Israel.  But  the  body 
of  that  nation,  now  become  worldl}^,  and  sensual  in  their 
minds,  and  ambitious  in  their  views,  mistook  the  true  charac- 
ter of  their  deliverer,  and  the  spiritual  nature  of  his  kingdom. 
They,  therefore,  did  not  recognise  him  when  he  stood  in  the 


*  The  people,  in  this  place,  as  in  numerous  other  paEsage?  of  sacred  vrritingf, 
evidently  refers  to  the  gentile  nutiom. 

2T 


162 

midst  of  them ;  but,  ongratified  in  their  vain  hopes,  they  pu^ 
him  to  death  in  the  rage  of  disappointment,  and  thereby  ac- 
complished another,  and  not  the  least  glorious  part  of  the 
prophecies  concerning  him.  While  flattering  themselves 
with  the  illusion  of  a  martial  and  victorious  prince  who  should 
extend  the  empire  of  Jerusalem  over  the  whole  earth,  their 
impatience  of  foreign  domination  daily  increased,  and  precipi- 
tated them  into  disorders  and  revolts,  which  only  hastened 
their  destruction,  and  gave  them  the  last  fatal  proof  that  the 
Messiah  was  already  comCf  and  that  they  had  done  unto  him 
whatsoever  they  listed."^ 

And  now,  in  the  conclusion,  let  me  ask,  have  we  not  seen 
a  most  extraordinary  person  appear  in  Judea  according  to 
the  predictions  of  the  sacred  scriptures  ?  And  has  he  not 
appeared  at  the  precise  time  which  they  had  marked  out, 
and  when,  in  consequence,  he  was  expected,  not  by  the  Jews 
only,  but  by  almost  all  nations  ?  Since  his  coming,  have  not 
expectations,  which  before  were  so  constant  and  universal, 
entirely  ceased  ?  Has  not  the  Jewish  nation,  according  to 
the  prophecy,  rejected  him  who  came  to  them  as  the  Mes- 
siah ?  And  have  not  the  gentiles  gathered  themselves  under 
his  wings,  while  the  guilty  Jews  have  been  exiled  from  their 
country  and  scattered  through  all  nations  under  heaven  ? 
Have  we  not  seen  the  greatest  moral  revolution  effected  by 

*  Mat.  17th,  12th. 


163 

Lis  doctrines  which  has  ever  taken  place  in  the  world  ?  And 
are  not  all  these  astonishing  events  evidently  connec  te  d  pas 
ofa  vast  plan  which  takes  its  beginning  with  time  itself,  which 
we  have  seen  gradually  unfolding  in  the  sacred  oracles  for 
a  long  series  of  ages,  and  to  the  consummation  of  which, 
when  they  ceased  to  speak,  they  still  continue  to  condii-ct  us 
by  the  lights  of  prophecy  ? 

What,  then,  is  the  conclusion  to  which  candid  and  impar- 
tial reason  muat  lead  us  from  all  these  premises  ?  Is  it  not, 
that  the  prophecies  have  been  inspired  by  God  ?  that  the 
plan  which  they  develop  is  the  work  of  God  ?  and  that  it 
has  been  conducted  to  its  wonderfnl  issue  by  his  own  im- 
mediate hand  ? 

I  have  here  presented  to  you  a  very  partial  review  of  the 
evidence  for  our  holy  religion  which  may  be  derived  from 
prophecy.  It  is  an  ample  field  ;  I  have  led  you  to  contem- 
plate only  a  single  angle  of  it.  Yet,  I  trust,  I  have  opened 
to  you  enough  to  convince  every  serious  and  ingenuous  mind 
that  is  solicitous  to  obtain  full  satisfaction  on  a  subject  so  in- 
teresting to  the  happiness,  the  duty,  and  the  hopes  of  man, 
of  the  importance  of  exploring  it  more  extensively.  The  ar- 
gument, however,  as  far  as  we  have  pursued  it,  appears  to 
me  satisfactory  and  conclusive. 


164 


COLLATERAL    OR  PRESUMPTIVE  PROOFS  OF  CHRISTIANITr. 
OF  THE  SUBLIMITY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

Having  presented  to  jou  a  concise  view  of  the  direct  evi- 
dences of  the  truth  of  our  holj  religion,  I  proceed  to  exhi- 
bit some  collateral  and  presumptive  considerations  which 
will  be  found  of  importance  in  giving  strength  to  the  general 
argument.  Of  this  species  of  evidence  it  is  the  character, 
that  the  various  presumptions,  or  probabilities,  taken  sepa- 
rately, do  not  carry  to  the  mind  that  complete  conviction  on 
which  it  can  entirely  rest  independently  of  other  proof;  but 
the  whole  viewed  together  forms  an  accumulation  of  evidence 
which  it  is  not  easy  to  resist ;  and  they  greatly  strengthen 
the  impression  of  those  proofs  which  are  more  immediate 
and  positive. 

These  presumptions  arise,  in  the  first  place,  out  of  the  scrip- 
tures themselves :  their  sublimity,  their  purity,  their  plain- 
ness, their  efficacy  on  the  hearts  of  men,  and  their  consisten- 
cy with  the  state  of  the  world,  and  with  themselves,  though 
penned  by  writers  of  such  various  characters,  and  so  far  re- 
moved from  one  another  in  point  of  time,  through  a  long  se- 
ries of  ages :  in  the  next  place,  out  of  the  character  of  the 
Saviour,  and  of  those  humble  instruments  which  he  employ- 
ed to  promulgate  his  doctrines ;  and  lastly,  out  of  the  conse- 
quences which  have  flowed  from  the  promulgation  of  the 
gospel. 


165 

One  of  the  first  of  the  internal  characters  of  the  scriptures 
which  strikes  us,  is  the  grandeur  both  of  sentiment  and  lan- 
guage which  pervades  the  poetic  and  prophetic  parts  of  Ihern 
in  general,  and  especiaHj  that  astonishing  sublimity  into 
which  they  rise  whenever  they  speak  of  the  Deity,  who  is, 
indeed,  their  principle  subject.  They  frequently  present  to 
us  very  noble  views  of  the  actions  and  sentiments  of  illustri- 
ous men,  as  well  as  magnificent  descriptions  of  natural  scenes; 
but  whenever  they  speak  of  the  perfection,  or  the  operations 
of  the  Supreme  Being,  as  if  full  of  God,  they  seem  rapt 
above  themselves.  They  break  out  into  strains  to  which 
there  is  no  parallel,  the  enemies  of  Christianity  themselves 
being  judges  in  the  productions  of  ancient  or  modern  genius. 
This  was  to  be  expected  of  men  writing,  or  speaking  under 
the  influence  of  genuine  inspiration ;  and  the  existence  of  the 
fact,  that  they  have  thus  spoken  and  written,  affords  a  pre- 
sumption, of  no  inconsiderable  force,  that  they  were  truly 
the  subjects  of  that  divine  inspiration  to  which  they  laid 
claim.  Whence,  if  not  from  this  cause,  was  it  that  a  few 
devout  men  in  an  obscure  nation,  and  in  a  remote  age,  far 
beyond  the  birth  of  arts  in  Greece  or  Rome,  formed  such 
sublime,  or  rather,  sueh  divine  conceptions  of  Deity,  and 
have  conveyed  them  in  such  elevated  strains  as  there  is  no- 
thing to  equal  in  the  noblest  works  of  those  celebrated  nations 
even  in  the  most  refined  periods  of  their  improvement.  Let 
me  select  only  one  example  of  the  appearance  of  the  Al- 
mighty.    Then  the  earth  shook  and  trembkd.     He  bowed 


266 

the  heavens  also  and  came  down,  and  darkness  mas  under 
his  feet.  And  he  rode  upon  a  cherub  and  did  fly  ;  yea,  he 
did  fly  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind.  The  Lord  thundered 
in  the  heavens :  then  were  the  beds  of  the  ocean  laid  bare  ; 
and  the  foundations  of  the  world  were  disclosed.^  But 
where  shall  we  find  an  idea  so  sublime,  and  expressed  in  such 
a  noble  simplicity  of  language,  as  that  of  the  creation,  as  it 
is  represented  by  Moses :  In  the  beginning,  God  created 
the  heavens  and  the  earth  ;  and  God  said,  let  light  be,  and 
the  light  was.f  Perhaps  words  cannot  better  express  the 
facility  with  which  omnipotence  gave  existence  to  the  uni- 
verse. 

Even  the  name  by  which  the  Supreme  Being  was  pleas- 
ed to  reveal  himself  to  Moses,  exceeds  in  grandeur  and  sub- 
limity whatever  the  religion  or  philosophy  of  paganism  ever 
taught  on  the  subject  of  God.  It  comprehends  ideas  more 
elevated,  and  worthy  the  divine  nature  than  had  ever  be- 
fore entered  the  conception  of  man.  All  the  pagan  nations, 
even  those  who  had  made  the  greatest  advances  in  science, 
if  they  did  not  adopt  an  atheistical  philosophy,  had,  too  near- 
ly, approximated  the  divine  to  the  human  nature.  We  find 
worthy  ideas  of  the  Creator  only  in  the  sacred  scriptures. 

*  Psal  18th. 

f  Gen.  1.  1.  This  passage  has  been  quoted  as  a  noble  example  of  sublimity 
and  simplicity  united,  by  that  illustrious  critic  Longinus ;  and  the  quotation  has 
been  repeated  after  him  by  almost  every  critic  since  his  age> 


1&7 

Jehovalif  which  is  interpreted  /  a»t,  expresses  essential  life, 
eternal  existence,  universal  presence.  It  implies  that  all 
things  existing  in  him,  and  by  him,  and  depending  absolute- 
ly on  his  will  for  the  origin  of  their  being,  and  their  continu- 
ed existence,  are  to  be  regarded  as  nothing  in  comparison  with 
him,  and  that  he  is  all  in  all.  He  is  the  only  proper  being ; 
the  universe  is  full  of  him  alone ;  the  rest  are  passing  shades. 
Where,  then,  among  all  the  nations  of  the  ancient  world,  ex- 
cept in  this  circumscribed  corner  of  the  earth,  favoured  with 
the  peculiar  illapses  of  the  divine  Spirit,  to  keep  alive  the 
ptrpelual  fire  of  truth,  till  the  rising  of  the  sun  of  righteous- 
ness,  do  we  find  such  exalted  and  sublime  notions  of  God? 
When  this  is  fairly  considered,  may  we  not  justly  say,  fu' 
voured  with  the  peculiar  illapses  of  the  divine  Spirit,  with- 
out assuming  for  granted  a  principle  not  yet  proved  ?  For 
whence,  but  from  this  source,  could  arise  those  transcendent 
discoveries  which  illuminated  the  mind  of  a  Jewish  prophet 
concerning  the  divine  nature  ?  that  burst  of  inspiration, 
whenever  Jehovah  is  their  subject,  which  so  far  excels  the 
pretended  inspiration  of  all  other  poets  ?  On  any  of  the  or- 
ordinary  principles  or  causes  which  assist  to  develop,  and 
bring  to  perfection  the  genius  of  nations,  or  to  promote  the 
progress  of  science  among  them,  this,  surely,  was  not  to 
have  been  expected  in  the  nation  of  Israel.  In  poetry  noth- 
ing has  ever  equalled  the  strains  of  (he  Hebrew  prophets.^^ 

*  To  be  convinced  of  this,  the  reader  of  taste  need  only  consult  the  translation 
of  Isaiah  by  bishop  Lowth,  with  hig  critical  notes  and  explanations,  and  his  db 
aertation  on  Ihc  Hebrew  poetry. 


168 

From  them  Milton  Las  assisted  the  noblest  flights  of  his 
muse.  When  thej  introduce  the  majesty  of  God,  the  pious 
mind  is  overwhelmed  by  the  torrent  and  grandeur  of  their 
thoughts,  and  struggles  to  expand  itself  to  conceptions  which 
it  can  never  embrace.  This  is  the  true  effect  of  the  reli- 
gious sublime.  In  theology,  Plato  obtained  the  title  of  the 
sublime  philosopher  of  Greece,  only  for  approaching  those 
ideas  of  Deity  which  every  where  pervade  the  holy  scrip- 
tures. And  his  principles,  he  confessed  he  did  not  draw 
from  the  resources  of  his  own  mind,  or  create  by  the  efforts 
of  his  own  genius,  but  acquired  by  travelling  and  conversing 
with  the  priests  and  literary  men  in  those  countries  in  which 
the-  scriptures  were  best  known,  and  in  which  were  found 
the  purest  remains  of  that  original  revelation,  which  I  have 
before  proved  to  have  been  transmitted  by  the  second  father 
of  the  race,  after  the  deluge,  to  those  nations  in  the  East 
that  immediately  sprang  from  him. 

To  those  sublime  conceptions  of  the  Deity  which  distin- 
guish the  sacred  writings  we  may  add  the  views  which  they 
present  to  us  of  the  government  of  divine  providence  over 
every  part  of  nature,  from  the  highest  sphere  in  the  heavens 
to  the  atom  which  seems  casually  to  float  in  the  atmosphere  ; 
from  an  angel  to  an  insect :  and  if  we  add  the  doctrines  which 
they  teach  of  the  creation  and  dissolution  of  the  universe, 
and  of  the  final  judgment  and  everlasting  destinies  of  man- 
kind; where,  besides,  in  aUthe  volumes  of  human  wisdom  do 


169 

we  find  ideas  so  grand,  and  so  worthy  of  God  ?  We  can 
hardly  resist  the  conclusion,  therefore,  that  they  have  been 
inspired  by  that  divine  and  infinite  Spirit  whose  nature,  and 
whose  truth  they  profess  to  reveal  to  men. 

It  has  been  made  a  question  whether  or  not  the  style  of  the 
sacred  scriptures  be  proportionably  elevated  with  the  senti- 
ments ;  or  whether,  in  the  structure  and  composition  of  their 
language,  they  are  supported  throughout  according  to  the 
principles  and  rules  of  true  taste.  Eminent  writers  have  ap- 
peared on  both  sides  of  this  question  ;  some  contending  for 
the  affirmative,  and  endeavouring  to  maintain  their  opinion  by 
a  minute  comparison  of  the  diction  of  the  scriptures  with  that 
of  the  classic  writers  of  Greece  and  Rome  ;*  others  assert- 
ing that  there  is  no  standard  of  taste  which  can  be  fairly  ap- 
plied to  the  writings  of  all  ages,  and  of  all  countries.f  Hu- 
man nature,  they  say,  undergoes  very  material  changes,  not 
only  in  external  form  and  appearance,  but  in  the  faculties  of 
the  mind,  and  the  habits  of  thinking,  from  climate,  from  the 
state  of  society,  from  the  form  of  government,  from  the  physi- 
cal character  of  the  country,  from  the  progress  of  arts,  and 
from  various  other  causes,  which  contribute,  at  the  same 
time,  to  create  a  correspondent  variety  in  the  ideas  of  beauty 


*  A  remarkable  example  of  this  mode  of  conducting  the  argument  we  have  ia 
Blacktvell^s  Sacred  Classics. 

f  Of  this  opinion  the  celebrated  Warburton  is  the  pripcipal  defender  in  liis  Di- 
vine Legation  of  Moses. 

22 


iro 

and  taste  which  prevail  in  different  nations.  Hence,  in  all 
ages,  a  lofty  and  enigmatical  manner  of  writing  has  obtained 
in  Asia,  which,  in  Europe,  is  considered  as  swoln  and  bom- 
bastic ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  correct  precision  of  the 
Attic  style,  which  is  admired  in  Europe,  is  regarded  in  Asia 
as  low  and  frigid.  We  are  not,  thererefore,  to  look,  say  these 
critics,  for  any  standard  of  excellence  and  perfection  in  writ- 
ing, which  is  invariably  to  govern  the  decisions  of  mankind 
with  regard  to  the  merit  of  works  of  genius  and  taste. 

Such  contrariety  of  opinion  between  men  of  perhaps  near- 
ly equal  claims  to  learning  and  critical  judgment,  is  one  proof, 
among  many  others,  that  the  question  is  not  of  great  impor- 
tance. The  object  of  divine  revelation  is  to  teach  men  di- 
vine truthy  under  the  inspiration  of  the  holy  Spirit,  leaving 
the  expression  of  it  to  each  writer,  according  to  his  own  ge- 
nius and  taste,  formed  and  modelled,  as  it  will  be  in  some  de- 
gree, by  the  genius  and  taste  of  the  age  in  which  he  lives. 
If  these  should  not  always  be  exactly  conformed  to  the  reign- 
ing taste  of  the  period  in  which  we  live,  this  will  not  form  any 
reasonable  objection  to  the  style  of  the  holy  scriptures,  as 
not  properly  expressing  the  majesty  and  sublimity  which 
ought  to  be  expected  in  the  word  of  God. 

Every  man  of  true  taste  feels  and  acknowledges  the  sub- 
limity of  Shakespeare's  genius,  although  we  perceive  in  his 
strains  many  harsh  and  unharmonious  numbers,  and  some  de- 


in 

partures  from  the  rigorous  exactness  of  critical  rules.    These 
are  in  some  instances  to  be  ascribed  to  the  character  of  the 
age  in  which  he  lived.     But  frequently  the  noble  flights  of 
his  oause  bear  him  above  all  rule,  and  give  him  a  complete 
empire  over  the  mind,  and  over  the  critic's  art.     So  the  sub- 
limity of  inspiration  may  sometimes  disdain  to  be  measured 
by  the  little  niceties  of  artificial  rules.     But  I  make  no  apolo- 
gy for  the  prophets.     Elevated  and  transported  with  the 
grandeur  of  their  subject,  whenever  they  speak  of  God,  or 
his  works,  or  rapt  with  the  fervor  of  their  own  devout  feel- 
ings beyond  the  ordinary  limits  of  human  nature,  they  always 
express  themselves  nobly,  and  often   with  a  transcendent 
glow  and  majesty  of  diction. 

But  in  treating  of  the  sublimity  of  the  holy  scriptures,  and 
applying  to  them  the  rules  of  a  just  criticism,  it  is  necessary 
to  use  the  same  fairness  and  candor  in  judging  of  them,  as  of 
all  other  works  of  genius.  The  design  of  the  writer  should 
be  kept  in  view  as  well  as  the  nature  of  his  subject,  that  we 
may  not  look  for  the  high  ornaments  of  style  in  simple  chroni- 
cles, nor  for  the  sublime  of  poetry  or  eloquence  in  didactic 
precepts.  Every  part  even  of  holy  writ  is  not  to  be  judged 
by  the  same  rule. 

Besides,  as  inspiration  was  designed  only,  or  principally, 
to  discover  truths  but  does  not  seem  in  any  other  way  to  have 
controlled  the  faculties  of  the  human  mind,  except  by  the  ar- 


172 

dor  with  which  it  seized  them  and  the  strong  impressions 
which  it  made  upon  them,  a  variety  of  style  is  to  be  expect- 
ed among  the  sacred  writers,  ari-(ing  from  diversity  of  natural 
talents,  and  acquired  improvements,  or  from  the  manners  and 
genius  of  the  respective  ages  in  which  they  lived. 

In  estimating  the  true  character  of  the  scripture  style  we 
o:  ght  to  be  able  to  have  recourse  to  the  original.  Great  al- 
lowances ought  to  be  made  for  the  imperfections  of  a  literal 
translation  in  prose,  such  as  ours  is,  of  compositions,  many  of 
them  written  in  the  highest  spirit  of  poetry.  Take  the  finest 
passages  of  the  most  admired  classics  of  Greece  or  Rome, 
and  render  them  in  a  translation  equally  simple  and  literal ; 
take,  for  example,  the  translation  of  Virgil  by  Watson,  and 
Compare  it  with  our  English  version  of  the  scriptures,  and 
you  must  be  forcibly  struck  with  the  superior  majesty  of  the 
prophets  and  psalmists  of  Israel,  above  that  of  the  prince  of 
Roman  poets,  when  exhibited  before  you  in  the  same  dress. 
The  scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament,  then,  read  with  these 
views,  and  under  these  precautions,  will,  I  doubt  not,  fully 
support  their  claim  to  a  divine  original,  not  only  by  the  sub- 
limity of  their  sentiments,  but  by  the  nobleness  of  their 
diction. 

The  New  Testament,  indeed,  is  written  with  the  utmost 
simplicity  of  the  narrative  and  epistolary  style ;  but  it  con- 
tains the  sublimest  system  of  theology  and  of  morals  ever  of- 


173 

tered  to  the  faith,  or  the  reason  of  mankind.     Here  we  bc" 

i 

hold  the  threefold  existence  of  the  Deitj  without  destroying 
the  perfect  simplicity  of  the  divine  essence.  Here  we  be- 
hold the  astonishing  assumption  of  the  human  nature  into  an 
intimate  'union  with  the  divine.  Here  all  the  types  and  cere- 
monies of  the  ancient  dispensation  are  seen  to  terminate  in  the 
Messiah ;  all  its  altars  are  extinguished,  and  their  innumera- 
ble victims  are  comprised,  and  forever  end,  in  one  divine  ob- 
lation for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  Here  we  are  taught 
to  look  forward  to  the  dissolution  of  the  universe,  and  the  re- 
surrection of  the  dead  ;  and  all  nations  of  men  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end  of  time  are  presented  to  our  view  assem- 
bled before  the  tribunal  of  God.  Here  are  decided  the  eter- 
nal destinies  of  men  and  angels.  And  after  the  great  catas- 
trophe of  nature,  we  are  taught  to  expect  new  heavens  and  a 
new  earth,  with  the  introduction  of  a  new  and  everlasting  or- 
der of  ages.  Whether  the  truth  of  Christianity  be  admitted 
to  be  demonstrated  or  not,  surely  infidelity  itself  must  be  con- 
strained to  confess,  that  these  are  the  most  grand  and  sublime 
ideas  which  have  ever  entered  the  human  mind.  And  most 
worthy  they  appear  (o  be  of  that  infinite  wisdom,  and  holi- 
ness, and  benignity,  and  powei*,  to  which  they  are  ascribed. 


174 


OF  THE  MORALITY,  AND  EFFICACY  OF  THE  SCIPTITRES 

AS  A  PRINCIPLE  OP  VIRTUE  AND  A  HOLY  LIFE.     OP 

ITS  PRINCIPLE,  ITS    EXTENT,  AND  ITS  AIDS. 

The  purity  and  excellence  of  the  moral  doctrines  of  the 
holj  scriptures,  and  especially  of  those  immediately  taught 
by  our  Saviour  himself,  and  the  blessed  apostles,  afford  a  pre- 
sumptive argument,  of  no  inconsiderable  weight,  for  their  di- 
vine authority.     The  principles  of  morals,  and  the  rules  of 
virtue,  have  always  been  subjects  of  the  most  diligent  and 
curious  inquiry  among  the  sages  of  the  ancient  world,  ever 
since  civil  society  was  first  established  under  the  influence 
of  regular  laws,  or  philosophy  began  to  be  cultivated.     But 
no  where  else  do  we  find  such  a  pure,  and  excellent,  and 
perfect  system  of  morals  as  in  the  sacred  writings.     And  this 
has  been  acknowledged  by  many  of  the  most  ingenious  and 
candid  enemies  of  the  christian  religion,  while  they  ascribe 
it,  however,  to  a  cause  which  we  can  by  no  means  admit ; 
the  natural  progress  of  science,  and  the  gradual  advances 
which  have  been  made  in  the  improvement  of  the  human 
mind,  by  adding  the  experience  of  following  ages,  to  the  wis- 
dom of  the  past.     No  such  superior  improvements  in  moral 
science  were  found,  at  the  commencement  of  the  christian 
era,  in  the  doctrines  of  the  schools  ;*  and  it  is  inconceivable 


*  Of  this  every  classic  reader  may  easily  be  convinced  by  consulting  Cicero  de 
natura  deorum. 


175 

that  they  should  have  first  taken  their  origin  among  the  fish- 
ermen and  mechanics  of  Judea.  The  argument  would  have 
had  more  plausibility  applied  to  the  learned  men  of  modern 
ages,  if  we  had  not  the  most  certain  evidence  that  the  superi- 
ority of  their  moral  and  theological  doctrines  to  those  of  the 
ancient  schools,  ought  to  be  ascribed  solely  to  the  illumina-> 
lion  shed  by  the  scriptures  on  the  christian  world.* 

True  it  is,  that  any  pretence  to  revelation  must  come  re- 
commended by  some  general  system  of  good  morals,  other- 
wise it  will  soon  fall  to  the  ground.  But  when  an  impostor 
has  set  up  a  fictitious  claim  to  inspiration,  we  may  ever  ex- 
pect to  find  some  traits  of  human  weakness  and  depravity 
mingled  with  his  religious  doctrines.  It  is  almost  impossible 
that  an  impious,  or  immoral  man  should  not  transfuse,  in 
some  degree,  the  colour  of  his  own  character  into  his  work. 
Hence,  amidst  the  general  precepts  of  justice,  temperance, 
and  chastity,  without  which  civil  society  cannot  exist,  and 
which  enter  into  all  the  religions  of  the  world,  still  we  find, 
in  the  temples  of  paganism,  free  permission  given  to  the  in- 
dulgence of  (he  most  licentious  passions  of  the  heart.  It  is 
in  the  koran  itself,  in  the  vicious  licence  which  it  grants  its 
disciples,  and  the  sensual  paradise  which  it  confers  on  its 
military  saints,  that  we  might  learn  the  lust,  and  violence  of 


f  Whatever  is  excellent  in  the  theological  and  moral  principles  of  the  koran  of 
Mahomet  we  have  likewise  reason  to  believe  was  drawn  from  the  knowledge 
which  tliat  impostor  had  both  of  the  writings  of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament. 


176 

its  author  if  we  were  not  acquainted  with  the  history  of  his 
hfe.  But,  in  the  holy  scriptures,  you  not  only  discern  a 
general  system  of  good  morals,  many  excellent  precepts  of 
piety  and  virtue,  but  you  have  presented  to  you  a  perfect 
body  of  doctrine  in  which  the  most  faithful  and  candid  scru- 
tiny can  find  nothing  of  an  opposite  character  or  tendency. 
In  them  you  perceive  the  principles  and  examples  of  the 
purest  devotion,  equally  removed  from  the  injudicious  fer- 
vors of  enthusiasm,  and  the  cold  and  burdensome  ceremonial 
of  superstition :  in  them  you  see  personal  purity  carried  to 
the  highest  degree  of  perfection ;  and  those  virtues  which 
most  effectually  promote  the  harmony,  and  the  happiness  of 
society  placed  on  their  only  true  and  stable  foundation ;  char- 
ity which  loves  our  neighbour  as  ourselves ;  meekness 
which  is  not  prompt  to  revenge  an  injury;  forgiveness 
which  is  ready  to  forget  it ;  the  whole  animated  by  the  love 
of  God,  and  guarded  against  the  disorders  of  the  injurious 
passions  by  the  holy  influence  of  his  fear. 

On  this  subject  the  following  considerations  particularly 
merit  your  attention :  the  spirit  of  the  morality  of  the  gospel: 
its  extent :  the  principles  which  it  lays  down  as  the  summa- 
ry, and  the  only  true  and  efficient  spring  of  all  our  duties ; 
and  finally,  the  discriminating  test  which  it  proposes  of  the 
sincerity  of  our  obedience. 


177 

It  has  been  justly  remarked  by  Dr.  Paley,  after  the  cele^ 
brated  Soame  Jennyns,  that  the  spirit  of  the  morality  taught 
by  our  blessed  Saviour  is  entirely  opposed  to  those  splendid 
and  ostentatious  qualities  which  too  generally  pass  in  the 
world  for  virtues  of  a  superior  order,  and  which  history  so 
often  ambitiously  displays  to  decorate  her  style,  and  to  cap- 
tivate the  unthinking  admiration  of  mankind  for  her  principal 
heroes.  The  gospel  gives  no  praise  to  that  pride  which  ex^ 
alts  itself  over  our  fellow  men,  and  is  easily  provoked  at  in» 
juries  real  or  imaginary;  it  has  no  indulgence  for  that  jealous 
honour  which  is  ever  ready  to  suspect,  and  revenge  insults, 
or  that  lofty  ambition  of  power  and  command,  which  the  miS" 
take  of  the  world  is  apt  to  extol  as  a  proof  of  elevation  and 
nobleness  of  mind.  On  the  other  hand,  next  to  the  love 
and  fear  of  God,  it  bestows  all  its  approbation  on  meekness 
of  spirit,  on  candor,  on  humility,  on  charity  and.  kindness  of 
heart,  in  a  word,  on  those  mild,  innocent,  unassuming,  and 
benevolent  dispositions,  which  give  birth  to  the  sweetest  in- 
tercouse  among  mankind,  and  form  the  strongest  and  happi- 
est cement  of  society.  This  is  a  morality  entirely  different 
in  its  genius  from  that  which  would  be  dictated  by  the  spirit 
of  the  world.  It  is  peculiar  to  the  gospel.  And  although, 
at  the  first  view,  it  may  seem,  to  those  who  have  received 
their  education  in  the  world,  to  be  tame  and  pusillanimous, 
it  will  be  found,  on  a  fair  and  just  examination,  to  discover  a 
more  profound  estimate  of  moral  worth  than  was  ever  bqfor^ 

23 


178 

made ;  either  in  the  school  of  philosophy,  or  in  that  of  the 
world. 

It  is  judiciously  observed  by  both  the  distinguished  wri- 
ters to  whom  I  have  referred,  that  the  heroic  virtues,  as  they 
are  called,  are  ealeulated  only  to  disturb  the  peace  and  hap- 
piness of  human  society,  and  have,  indeed,  been  the  chief 
sources  of  the  disorders,  the  wars,  and  revolutions  which,  in 
every  period  of  time,  have  afflicted  all  nations.  On  the  con- 
trary, if  all  men  were  governed  by  the  christian  virtues  of 
humility,  of  meekness,  of  candor,  of  forgiveness,  of  charity, 
the  earth,  which  has,  hitherto,  been  the  theatre  of  violent, 
conflicting,  and  cruel  passions,  would  become  the  residence 
of  tranquillity  and  peace. 

JDo  you  ask  if  the  general  prevalence  of  these  meek  and 
pacific  principles  in  a  nation  would  not  expose  it  to  insults 
and  injustice  from  its  powerful  neighbours,  and  render  it,  at 
length,  an  easy  prey  to  their  ambition  ?  I  answer  that  the 
maxims  of  the  gospel  do  not  oppose  the  natural  duties  which 
every  citizen  owes  to  his  country  for  its  defence.  It  is 
among  the  primary  obligations  which  the  gospel  imposes  on 
its  disciples,  to  honour  and  obey  the  magistrate,  as  well  as 
to  fear  God.  And  the  supreme  magistracy  of  a  state  owes 
duties  to  the  nation  under  its  protection  very  different  from 
those  which  subsist  between  man  and  man  in  society.  It  is 
the  latter,  chiefly,  which  the  evangelic  rules  of  meekness, 


179 

humility,  charity,  and  forgiveness  are  intended  to  regulate. 
And  they  promote  peace  and  union  by  cultivating  the  spirit 
of  mutual  love ;  they  prevent  discords,  by  extinguishing,  or 
correcting  the  passions  which  are  the  principles  of  contention 
and  division.  The  civil  laws  of  most  countries  aim  at  the 
same  end ;  but  feebly,  because  they  impose  their  restraints 
only  on  the  outward  actions  ;  whereas  the  gospel  enters  into 
the  heart  to  correct  the  evil  in  its  source.  It  is  folly  there- 
fore to  accuse  of  tameness  and  pusillanimity  that  spirit  which, 
by  changing  the  dispositions  of  the  heart,  promotes  the 
peace  of  society  in  the  most  perfect  manner;  an  object 
which  it  is  the  supreme  end  of  a  wise  legislation  even  imper- 
fectly to  attain,  by  operating  with  its  compulsory  power  on 
the  external  conduct.  It  is  the  error  of  the  world  to  bestow 
its  admiration  on  that  bold  and  ardent  character  of  mind 
which  is  quick  in  its  sensibilities  to  injury,  violent  in  its  re- 
sentments, jealous  of  its  honour,  proud  of  its  darings,  and 
ever  ready,  in  order  to  avenge  itself  of  real  or  imaginary 
wrongs,  to  break  through  both  the  prescriptions  of  law,  and 
the  dictates  of  justice.  Such  is  commonly  the  heroic  char- 
acter whose  achievements  blazon  the  pages  of  history.  Far 
different  are  the  virtues  of  the  gospel.  Silent,  yielding,  and. 
benevolent,  they  contribute  to  promote  and  secure  the  hap- 
piness of  mankind,  which  the  former  tend  to  destroy. 

"When  we  consider,  then,  the  perfect  and  unmixed  purity 
df  the  morality  of  the  gospel,  and  the  indications  which  it 


/  180 

exhibits  of  a  most  holy  and  spolless  mind  in  its  author ;  when 
We  consider  with  what  admirable  wisdom  he  rejects  the  false 
and  imposing  virtues  which  have  chiefly  commanded  the  ap- 
plause of  the  world,  and  even  the  approbation  of  the  sage, 
and  placed  virtue,  which  is  the  mean  of  promoting  human 
happiness,  upon  its  true  and  only  solid  basis ;  when  we  re- 
flect, further,  how  peculiar  these  excellencies  are  to  the  gos- 
pel of  Christ,  and  how  far  they  are  above  the  wisdom,  how 
Contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  world,  we  might  well  be  sur- 
prised if  any  of  the  sages  of  Greece,  rising  above  the  genius 
and  improvements  of  their  age,  had  been  the  authors  of  such 
ft  system ;  but  when  we  take  into  view  the  country,  the  edu- 
cation, and  rank  in  life,  of  Christ,  and  his  apostles,  we  must 
be  astonished  at  the  wisdom  with  which  they  have  spoken. 
Considering  them  as  mere  men,  bred  up  amidst  the  tools  of 
the  mechanic,  Or  the  nets  of  the  fishermen,  it  must  be  utter- 
ly incredible.  Surely,  exclaims  Dr.  Paley,  Jesus  must 
htiDe  been  like  no  other  carpenter,  the  apostles  like  no  other 
fishermen !  Read  the  discourses,  the  parables,  the  history 
of  the  transactions  of  our  blessed  Saviour ;  read  the  moral 
precepts  with  which  the  epistles  of  the  apostles  every  where 
abound,  and  I  confess  they  appear  to  me  to  bear  the  evident 
and  deep  inscriptions  of  divine  wisdom.  The  mission  of  the 
Saviour,  and  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  were  confirmed  by  great 
and  numerous  miracles ;  but,  in  my  esteem,  the  greatest  of  all 
miracles  would  be  the  gospel  itself,  if  we  could  suppose  such 
a  transcendent  system  of  theology  and  morals,  so  sublime. 


181  ^ 

30  pure,  so  superior  to  the  wisdom  of  the  age,  to  have  been 
the  uHinspired  work  of  the  unlettered  fishermen  of  Judea. 

The  excellence  of  the  christian  morality  may  be  estimat- 
ed, in  the  next  place,  from  its  extent.  The  gospel  does  not 
limit  its  views  to  regulating  the  external  conduct  and  inter- 
course of  mankind  with  one  another,  to  which  civil  laws  are 
obliged  to  bound  their  influence.  It  goes  to  rectify  the 
thoughts  and  desires  of  the  heart,  and  thereby  to  purify  the 
fountains  of  conduct :  it  places  its  restraints  upon  the  first 
movements  and  springs  of  action.  This  is  a  point  of  the  ut 
most  importance  in  considering  the  true  value  of  the  morality 
of  the  gospel,  which  sets  it  far  above  the  influence  of  civil 
laws,  or  the  discipHne  of  the  schools.  For,  however  regu- 
lar the  exterior  deportment  may  be,  if  the  imaginaton,  and 
the  affections  remain  impure,  the  soul  must  be  unfit  to  ap- 
pear in  the  immediate  presence  of  God  most  holy,  or  to  be 
joined  to  the  society  of  perfect  spirits  in  heaven  ;  and  there 
is  no  security  for  the  rectitude  of  the  conduct,  whenever 
temptation  invites,  and  opportunity  favours  indulgence.  Fan- 
cy, if  it  is  permitted  without  restraint  to  amuse  itself  with 
the  plans,  or  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  avarice,  revenge,  or 
lust ;  if  it  is  allowed  to  present  images  of  impurity  to  the 
mind,  and  range  at  will  through  ideal  scenes  of  voluptuous 
enjoyment,  taints  the  purity,  while  it  inflames  the  passions, 
of  the  heart,  and  corrupts  it  no  less  effectually  in  its  princi- 
ples of  action,  than  could   be  done  by  grosser  gratifica 


*  182 

tions.*  The  great  Teacher,  who  shows  in  all  his  precepts 
Low  perfectly  he  understands  human  nature,  as  well  as  the 
eternal  principles  of  right  and  wrong,  lays  the  check  of  every 
sinful  propensity,  and  every  vicious  action  on  the  only  spring 
©n  which  it  can  be  laid  with  effect :  on  the  thoughts,  on  the 
fancy,  on  the  heart.  Out  of  the  heart,  saith  he,  proceed  evil 
thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  &c.  and  these  are  the  things 
which  defile  a  man.-f  And  he  who  sees  the  end  and  con- 
summation of  the  act  in  the  principle  from  which  it  springs, 
and  regards  as  already  done  whatever  is  completed  in  the 
desire,  purpose,  and  determination  of  the  soul,  condemns  ev- 
ery one  who  even  looks  on  the  sex  with  a  lustfid  eye.%  What 
impostor,  conscious  of  his  own  imperfections,  would  be  wil- 
ling to  create  so  high  and  severe  a  standard  of  morals  by 
which  he  must  be  judged  himself?  What  crafty  founder  of 
a  sect  would  not  be  more  complaisant  to  the  tastes,  or  the 
frailties  of  those  whom  he  wished  to  allure  to  the  party  of 
his  follewers.il 

*  This  is  a  remark  founded  on  the  strictest  principles  of  reason,  as  well  as  oi  the 
gospel,  which  strongly  condemns  the  readers,  as  well  as  writers  of  licentious  poe- 
try; and  universally,  all  those  who  encourage,  by  their  presence,  any  licentious 
exhibitions,  or  by  purchasing  any  licentious  productions  of  the  arts. 

f  Mat.  15th,  19th, 
X  Mat.  5th,  28th. 

11  I  am  aware  that  retreat  from  the  world,  abstemiousness  and  rigid  penances  of- 
ten have  an  air  of  sanctity  in  the  eyes  of  a  superstitious  people ;  and  these  morti- 
fications have  been  introduced,  as  among  the  pharisees,  the  Roman  Catholics,  and 
the  Mahometans,  to  gain  a  certain  degree  of  popular  respect  for  their  respective 
systems.  But  in  such  impostures  you  always  find,  at  the  same  time,  some  facili- 
ties permitted  to  the  wealthy  and  the  powerful  to  evade  the  rigors  of  penance ; 
or  gome  iadulgeaces  granted  mother  artides  to  compensate  these  privations. 


183 

The  summary  of  duty,  in  the  next  place  laid  down  in  the 
holy  scriptures,  as  comprehending  the  whole  spirit  and  sub- 
stance of  the  morality  of  the  gospel,  serves  to  demonstrate 
its  excellence  and  perfection. 

All  our  duties  may  be  divided  into  two  great  classes : 
those  which  we  owe  immediately  to  God  :  those  which  ter^ 
minate  directly  on  our  fellow  men.  And  of  both  these  clas- 
ses our  blessed  Saviour  has,  after  Moses,  who  received  it 
from  God  himself  to  be  prefixed  to  the  tables  of  the  ten  com- 
mandments, given  the  most  admirable  and  perfect  epitome : 
thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind;  this  is  the  first  and 
great  commandment ;  and  the  second  is  like  unto  it^  thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.^  By  this  concise  view 
of  the  great  and  commanding  principles  of  morals,  we  see 
that  the  gospel,  which  places  the  restraint  of  all  vicious  and 
sinful  actions  in  a  renewed  heart,  the  only  efficient  point  in 
which  it  can  be  fixed,  places  there  also  the  true  spring  of  all 
duty.  And,  is  it  not  evident  that  the  worship  of  God  in 
spirit  and  in  truth,  veneration  for  his  holy  name,  resignation 
to  the  dispositions  of  his  providence,  and  universal  obedience 
to  whatever  bears  the  stamp  of  his  authority,  will  flow  from 
supreme  love  to  him  as  from  its  native  fountain  ?  And,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  it  not  equally  evident  that  justice,  bene- 

*  Mat,  22d,  35th,  40th. 


184 

volencc,  candor,  sincerity,  meekness,  forgiveness,  and  all 
those  virtues  which  fulfil  the  multiplied  relations  which  we 
bear  to  our  fellow  men,  will  be  the  natural  and  necessary  con- 
sequence of  sincere  and  undissembled  love  ?  But  do  you  ask, 
if  these  principles  are  peculiar  to  the  gospel  ?  If  we  do  not 
also  find  them  inculcated  by  heathen  moralists?  We  find 
reverence,  and  thankfulness  to  the  gods  frequently  recom- 
mended by  some  of  the  philosophers  ;  but  in  none  of  their 
writings  do  we  see  the  supreme  love  of  God  stated  as  the 
fundamental  principle  of  virtue  and  duty.  In  none,  is  the 
will  of  God  stated  as  the  sole,  creating,  preserving,  and  regu- 
lating power  of  the  universe,  to  which,  therefore,  our  most 
profound  veneration  and  submission,  our  most  constant 
and  fervent  gratitude  are  due.  Indeed,  they  had  ex- 
tremely imperfect,  or  rather  no  just  views  at  all  either  of 
creation,  or  of  providence.  And  in  the  catalogue  of  virtues 
which  connect  us  with  mankind,  although  some  of  their 
schools  require  justice,  truth,  chastity,  and  recommend 
friendship,  gratitude,  and  beneficence ;  yet  we  find  not  in 
any  of  them,  the  love  of  enemies,  the  forgiveness  of  injuries, 
nor  any  thing  which  may  properly  be  called  charity,  as  it  is 
understood  by  christians,  and  inculcated  in  the  gospel. 

I  am  warranted,  then,  by  the  concurrent  sentiments  of  the 
wisest,  most  candid,  and  pious  christian  writers,  in  pronounc- 
ing that  never  has  a  basis  of  duty,  equally  clear,  compre- 
hensive, and  complete,  been  laid  in  the  works  of  any  of  the 


185 

sages  of  paganism,  as  that  which  has  been  laid  in  the  gospel 
of  Christ;  and  never  has  such  a  moral  superstructure  been 
reared  on  any  basis  ;  so  admirable,  for  its  purity,  for  its  sim- 
plicity, for  its  adaptation  to  every  grade  of  human  under- 
standing, for  its  fulness,  and  its  application  to  every  case 
which  can  arise  to  a  fair  and  candid  mind  in  the  conduct  of 
life.  If,  then,  these  principles,  and  this  system  which  ap- 
pear so  perfect,  would  have  been  wonderful,  proceeding  from 
the  genius  and  the  pen  of  a  Plato,  or  a  Marcus  Antoninus  ;  if, 
indeed,  we  see  nothing  parallel  in  the  schools  of  Greece  or 
Rome ;  how  much  more  wonderful  are  they  if  we  consider 
them  merely  as  the  productions  of  unlettered  peasants  be- 
longing to  a  country  which  Greek  and  Roman  pride  regard- 
ed as  barbarian  ? 

Having  been  nursed  and  educated  amidst  that  light  which 
the  gospel  diffuses  wherever  it  is  received,  we  are  apt  to  re- 
gard its  moral  doctrines  as  containing  only  the  simple  and  ob- 
vious dictates  of  natural  reason  ;  because  they  have  entered 
into  our  earliest  education,  they  have  mingled  with  our  first 
ideas,  and  been  incorporated  from  infancy  with  all  our  habits 
of  thinking.  But  to  be  justly  impressed  with  the  full  force 
of  the  claim  which  it  possesses  to  a  divine  original,  we  should 
return  back  to  the  periods  which  preceded  the  christian  era, 
and  to  those  countries  which  did  not  enjoy  the  light  of  reve- 
lation, and  see  what  the  wisdom  of  the  wisest  men  has  dis- 
covered upon  the  subject  of  duty  and  morals.     This  will  af- 

24 


136 

ford  an  argument  founded  on  fact  and  experience,  the  only 
ground  on  which  we  can  rest  a  just  and  satisfactory  conclu- 
sion on  this  subject.  And  when  we  see  what  the  sages  of 
the  most  enlightened  nations  have  not  done,  and,  on  the  oth- 
er hand,  what  has  been  done  by  the  simple  fishermen  of  Ju- 
dea,  under  the  instructions  of  a  master  as  little  indebted  as 
themselves  to  human  science,  will  it  not  afford  a  strong,  and 
almost  irresistible  presumption  of  the  reality  of  that  divine 
inspiration  from  which  they  professed  to  have  derived  this 
extraordinary  wisdom  ?  We  know  not  how  men  in  that  age, 
in  that  country,  and  in  their  station  of  life  could  have  attained 
to  such  superior  knowledge  on  these  sublime  subjects,  unless 
they  had  been  divinely  assisted.  And,  surely,  if  inspiration 
has  ever  spoken  to  the  world,  we  cannot  conceive  of  any 
thing  more  pure,  more  excellent,  more  perfect,  which  could 
have  been  dictated  by  heaven  itself. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  evangelic  morality  is  the  uur 
mixed  purity  of  the  principle  which  it  requires  in  order  to 
constitute  any  action  good,  and  acceptable  to  God.  Take 
heedf  says  our  blessed  Saviour,  "  that  ye  do  not  your  alms 
before  men  to  be  seen  of  them.  When  thou  prayest,  enter 
into  thy  closet,  and  when  thou  hast  shut  thy  door,  pray  to 
thy  Father  who  is  in  secret.  When  thou  doest  alms,  let 
not  thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right  hand  doth."*     Of 

*  Mat.  6tb,  3d. 


which  precepts  the  evident  import  is,  that  we  ought  to  offer 
our  devotions  to  our  heavenly  Father,  not  as  a  mere  form, 
not  through  ostentation,  but  purely  for  the  love  of  God ;  and 
that  we  should  fulfil  every  office  of  benevolence  and  charity 
to  our  fellow  men  simply  from  the  love  of  doing  good.  No 
regard  merely  to  our  own  credit  and  reputation  among  men, 
and  no  considerations  of  honour  or  interest  arising  from  the 
publicity  of  our  good  deeds,  ought  exclusively  to  influence 
us  in  their  performance  :  they  ought  ever  to  be  the  natural 
and  spontaneous  effusions  of  the  pious  and  virtuous  disposi- 
tions of  the  heart. 

Many  very  amiable  and  benevolent  persons  have  greatly 
mistaken  the  meaning  of  these  precepts,  as  if  they  implied 
that  the  chief  merit  of  charitable  deeds  consists  in  their  being 
entirely  withdrawn  from  the  knowledge  and  observation  of 
the  world.  So  far  is  this  from  being  true  that,  not  unfre- 
quently,  their  publicity  may  form  part  of  their  good  desert, 
by  the  encouragement  which  it  will  afford  to  the  alms  of  oth- 
ers. It  is  not  the  mode  of  doing  a  benevolent  action  that 
our  Saviour  designed  to  regulate,  but  the  principles  from 
which  it  should  spring.  In  this  view,  what  an  amiable  proof 
do  these  precepts  contain  of  the  excellence  of  the  evangelic 
doctrine,  and  the  celestial  purity  of  its  spirit ! 

Another  character  of  the  sacred  scriptures  which  has  gen- 
erally been  relied  on  as  affording  a  presumptive  indication  of 


188 

tbeir  being  derived  from  God  is  their  simplicity  and  plainnesfe, 
notwithstanding  the  subh'mity  of  the  subjects  of  which  they 
treat,  and  the  extent  of  the  system  of  truth  and  morals  which 
they  embiace.  Any  rehgion,  which  comes  from  God,  must, 
from  its  very  design,  be  adapted  for  the  instruction  of  the 
mass  of  mankind.  And  it  was  the  glory  of  the  gospel,  in  its 
commencement,  that  it  was  preached  to  the  poor.  In  ful- 
filling this  great  and  necessary  end  of  popular  edification, 
therefore,  nothing  would  have  been  more  preposterous  than 
to  propose  to  them  abstruse  and  speculative  principles  of  sci- 
ence, or  to  discuss  before  them  such  abstract  questions  as 
were  agitated  by  the  philosophers  in  the  presence  of  their 
disciples.  It  was  requisite  that  religion  should  propound 
the  objects,  the  laws,  and  the  motives  of  duty,  in  the  most 
plain  and  intelligible  form,  that  they  might  be  easily  compre- 
hended by  the  most  unimproved  understanding,  while  they 
should  afford  high  matter  to  employ  the  sublimest,  and  most 
cultivated  reason.  Most  remarkably  do  we  see  these  char- 
acters meet  in  the  gospel.  And  perhaps  no  fact  can  better 
demonstrate  how  admirably  it  is  fitted  to  be  the  instructor  of 
the  people,  than  the  clear  and  general  knowledge  which  we 
now  find  among  all  ranks  of  men,  on  the  subjects  of  our  mor- 
al duties,  and  our  religious  hopes.  A  common  labourer,  in- 
structed, as  the  church  requires  for  the  poorest  of  her  sons, 
would  have  been  esteemed  a  philosopher  among  philosophers 
themselves,  judging  only  from  the  reasonableness  and  excel- 
lence of  his  moral  and  theological  doctrines.    But,  if  they 


189 

were  to  enter  with  him  into  such  disquisitions  on  the  princi- 
ples of  these  doctrines  as  were  common  in  their  schools  ;  if 
they  were  to  endeavour  to  trace  them  to  their  primary  ele- 
ments, and  again  to  pursue  them  through  regular  deductions 
to  their  ultimate  conclusions,  guarding  against  objections  and 
doubts  at  every  step,  and  parrying,  or  solving  a  thousand 
knotty  questions  in  their  progress,  would  not  this  plain  man 
be  confounded  ?  He  would  be  lost  in  the  intricacy  of  their 
speculations,  and  would  not  be  able  at  last  to  recognise  his 
own  principles.  Such  reSections  add  no  small  value  to  the 
plainness  of  the  gospel ;  and  may,  perhaps,  justly  be  said  to 
afford  a  presumption  of  the  divinity  of  that  system  which  has 
thus  been  able  to  bring  down  the  sublimest  subjects  to  the 
level  of  ordinary  minds. 

I  subjoin  here,  that  the  efficacy  of  the  holy  scriptures,  by 
which  is  meant  their  tendency,  and  powerful  influence  to  pro- 
duce holiness  of  life  in  those  who  truly  believe  them,  is  often 
adduced  by  pious  writers  as  an  internal  character,  and  pre- 
sumptive argument  of  their  divine  original.  This  argument 
is  supported  partly  from  reason  and  partly  from  experience. 
In  the  former  view,  we  should  consider  the  motives  and  as- 
sistances of  duty  afforded  by  the  gospel,  and  the  awful  and 
commanding  autliority  by  which  it  is  enjoined.  The  mo- 
tives presented  to  the  view,  and  urged  upon  the  conscience 
of  a  believer  in  the  gospel,  are  of  so  transcendent  and  inte- 
resting a  nature,  as  evidently  to  give  it  an  operation,  and  ef~ 


190 

feet  upon  the  heart,  which  can  never  be  perceived  from  any 
system  of  mere  reason  and  philosophy.  Feeble  are  the  mo- 
tives of  reason  atone  to  combat  the  force  of  the  passions.  But 
the  gospel,  by  bringing  life  and  immortality  to  lightt  by 
proposing  to  mankind  the  glorious  and  awful  retributions  of 
eternity,  by  the  doctrine  of  a  divine  providence,  of  a  univer- 
sal witness  and  judge  of  human  actions,  and  even  of  the 
thoughts  of  the  heart,  has  given  a  force  and  effect  to  the  laws 
of  duty  and  holiness,  which  could  not  be  derived  from  any 
representation!  of  the  present  convenience  and  satisfactions 
of  a  virtuous  life,  however  eloquently  they  might  be  depict- 
ed in  the  discourses  of  the  learned,  but  which  the  heart  is  so 
often  able  to  set  aside,  or  to  render  doubtful  in  the  moments 
of  temptation  and  of  action. 

Consider,  in  the  next  place,  the  authority  with  which  the 
gospel  speaks  to  the  heart  of  a  true  believer,  who  receives 
it  as  the  immediate  and  infallible  word  of  God.  Reason, 
when  it  would  prescribe  a  law  of  duty  to  mankind,  must  often 
speak  in  the  breast  with  a  very  faint  and  doubtful  voice 
amidst  the  prejudices  and  prepossessions  of  self-love,  and  the 
importunities  of  appetite  and  passion,  and  amidst  the  dubious 
and  circuitous  deductions  by  which  it  is  obliged  to  arrive  at 
its  conclusions.  And  it  can  never  prescribe  to  the  people  a 
rule  which,  in  this  uncertainty,  can  clearly  reach  to  every 
case  in  the  practice  of  life.  But  the  authority  of  God  gives 
to  his  law  a  clearness  which  cannot  be  mistaken,  and  a  power 


191 

and  control  which  come  home  to  every  thought  and  purpose 
of  the  soul.  Before  the  majesty  of  bis  authority,  the  turbu- 
lence of  appetite,  and  the  deceitfulness  of  the  heart  are  over- 
awed, and  brought  to  submission.  And  the  authority  of  God 
is  exhibited  in  the  gospel  as  possessing  claims  to  our  obedi- 
ence, and  a  power  to  command  it,  which  reason  alone  cannot 
exert.  He  enforces  his  law  by  all  the  rights  of  creation ;  by 
all  the  obligations  of  his  love  in  the  redemption  of  the  world ; 
and  by  all  the  terrors  of  his  justice,  which  shall,  at  last,  de- 
cide, by  this  law,  the  eternal  destinies  of  mankind. 

Among  the  most  effectual  means  of  holiness,  pious  writers 
have  ever  considered  the  promised  aids  of  the  holy  Spirit : 
they  are,  therefore,  to  be  classed  under  that  head  of  presump- 
tive proof  of  which  I  am  now  treating :  the  efficacy  of  the 
scriptures. 

To  a  nature  corrupted  as  ours  is,  the  difficulty  of  conquer- 
ing its  sinful  tendencies  and  habits,  and  turning  its  whole 
force  and  activity  into  an  habitual  love  of  virtue,  of  holinesSp 
and  of  God,  that  is,  of  regenerating  and  new  creating  it,  might 
justly  be  regarded  as  insuperable  without  supernatural,  and 
divine  assistance.  At  least,  convinced  sinners  who  feel  only 
the  difficulties  of  religion,  and  who,  in  repeated  efforts  per- 
fectly to  obey  the  law  of  God,  and  to  overcome  the  power 
of  sin  in  their  hearts,  must  be  sensible  only  of  their  own 
weakness,  would  be  ready  to  sink  into  despondency,  or  re- 


192 

lapse  into  their  natural  indolence,  and  love  of  indulgence,  un- 
less they  could  find  some  hope  in  the  promised  aid  of  the 
holy  Spirit.  If,  then,  in  maintaining  the  efficacy  of  the  gos- 
pel, to  promote  holiness  of  life,  against  unl)elievers,  we  should 
not  be  at  liberty  to  assume  the  reality  of  the  influences  of  the 
Spirit,  which  would  completely  decide  the  question ;  jet 
the  promise,  and  hope  of  his  gracious  and  effectual  assistance 
is  calculated  to  encourage  the  perseverance,  and  reanimate 
the  diligent  and  faithful  endeavours  of  every  believer,  and 
may,  therefore,  be  justly  reckoned  among  the  efficient  means 
which  the  gospel  possesses  of  promoting  true  holiness,  and 
reproducing  on  the  heart  of  man  the  image  of  his  Creator. 

Finally,  this  argument  is  supported  by  experience.  I 
might  here  mention,  in  the  first  place,  the  great  and  manifest 
eflfect  which  the  gospel  has  ever  had  in  producing  holiness 
of  life  wherever  it  has  been  received  with  a  sincere  faith. — 
But  I  have  chiefly  in  view  that  proof  of  its  divinity  which  it 
carries  to  the  heart  of  every  real  christian  by  his  own  expe- 
rience of  its  sanctifying  influence.  This  is  a  proof  indeed 
that  is  entirely  personal,  and  does  not  belong  to  the  general 
evidences  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.  Yet,  to  a  sincere  be- 
liever, who  has  experienced  this  holy  and  renovating  power, 
and  thus  may  be  said  to  have  the  testimony  in  himself,  and 
this  is  the  principal  view  in  which  the  pious  writers  I  have 
mentioned  propose  this  argument,  there  is,  perhaps,  no  other 
proof  which  comes  home  with  such  life,  and  force,  and  per- 


193 

suasion  to  his  heart.  The  argument,  however,  which  I  take 
to  be  in  its  nature  very  solid  and  just,  is  calculated,  and  in- 
tended rather  for  the  confirmation  of  the  faith  of  the  believer, 
than  the  conviction  of  the  unbeliever. 

OF  THE  CONSISTENCY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES  WITH  THEM- 
SELVES,   AND    WITH    THE    STATE    OF    THE    WORLD. 

Another  internal  character  of  the  sacred  scriptures,  which 
affords  a  presumptive  argument  of  their  truth,  is  their  coil" 
sistency.  This  may  be  considered  under  two  views  :  their 
consistency  with  themselves,  and  their  consistency  with  the 
state  of  the  world. 

■  That  any  work,  the  production  of  one  author,  and  embraC" 
ijig  a  code  of  legislation,  or  system  of  morals,  how  extensive 
soever,  founded  on  his  peculiar  opinions,  should  be  regularly 
deduced  from  definite  principles,  should  aim  at  one  end,  and 
be  found  coherent  in  all  its  parts,  would  have  in  it  nothing 
surprising.  It  would  be  a  natural  consequence  of  genins,  and 
sound  judgment  in  the  writer.  But,  in  the  scriptures  we  per- 
ceive, not  the  work  of  one  author,  nor  of  one  age,  but  the 
gradual  development  of  a  grand  scheme  of  providence,  and 
of  divine  grace  towards  mankind,  commencing  with  the  ori- 
gin, and  carried  on  through  the  whole  series  of  time,  till  the 
close  of  the  canon  of  the  New  Testament,  in  the  accomplish- 
ment and  illustration  of  which  an  immense  number  of  personis 


194 

must  have  co-operated  throughout  successive  ages,  not  con- 
nected with  one  another,  and  not  acting,  as  far  as  appears  to 
human  view,  under  any  common  direction.  One  dispensa- 
tion follows  and  is  built  upon  another.  The  same  spirit,  the 
same  principles  of  theology,  of  piety,  and  morals  pervade  the 
whole  ;  the  same  spiritual  promises  and  hopes  are  gradually 
unfolded  through  thousands  of  years,  and  conducted  to  their 
ultimate  accomplishment.  Here  is  a  vast  concatenation  of 
events  intimately  linked  together,  and  depending  upon  one 
another  ;  here  is  a  unity  of  plan  in  this  great  system  contin- 
ued down  through  diflferent  dispensations  of  the  mercy  of  God 
to  the  world,  tending  to  fulfil  one  great  design,  the  salvation 
of  mankind  through  a  Redeemer ;  of  the  astonishing  deve] 
lopment  of  which  design,  continued  through  such  a  long  pe- 
riod, no  reasonable  account  can  be  given,  unless  we  suppose 
the  whole  to  be  under  the  immediate  guidance  and  direction 
of  heaven.  Plans  laid  by  human  contrivance  are  not  so  per- 
manent, and,  if  I  may  use  the  term,  so  continuous.  There  is 
no  example,  in  human  affairs,  of  successive  generations  tak- 
ing up  one  design,  unfolding  it  by  degrees  in  a  long  course  of 
ages,  and  carrying  it,  at  length,  to  its  ultimate  completion. 
From  the  character  and  state  of  human  nature,  its  limited, 
and  discordant  views,  this  is  perhaps  impossible.  We  do 
not  perceive  the  various  schools  of  philosophy  concurring 
long  in  the  same  systems  of  physics,  or  of  morals.  One  lead- 
er of  a  sect  differs  from  another  ;  the  disciple  differs  from  his 
master ;  the  principles  on  which  their  respective  theories  are 


195 

built  are  continually  changing.  But  in  the  holj  scriptures 
we  find  one  uniform  consistent  design  pursued  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.  Amidst  all  the  variations  which  in  a  long 
succession  of  ages  must  have  occurred  in  the  state  of  society, 
in  the  manners  of  men,  in  their  habits  of  thinking,  and  in  the 
external  forms  and  usages  of  the  church  itself,  we  still  per- 
ceive the  same  doctrines  concerning  the  nature  of  God,  and 
the  duties  of  man  ;  we  still  discern  the  same  principles  of  mo- 
rals, the  same  worship  of  the  heart  required  in  true  religion, 
the  same  high  and  eternal  motives  of  duty  urged  upon  the 
conscience,  the  same  promised  Saviour  exhibited  to  our  faith, 
the  same  plan  of  divine  grace,  distinguished  only  by  the  ad- 
ditional lights  from  time  to  time  thrown  upon  it  as  it  approach- 
ed its  final  accomplishment.  In  this  consistency,  then,  we 
behold  a  moral  phenomenon  so  different  from  whatever  takes 
place,  in  the  plans  and  designs  of  men,  as  to  afford  no  slight 
presumption  that  the  whole,  from  its  commencement  to  its 
consummation,  has  been  under  the  wise  and  gracious  direc- 
tion of  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  same  Spirit  seems  to  have 
inspired  the  holy  patriarchs,  the  great  legislator  of  Israel,  the 
long  succession  of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  and  the  evangelists 
and  apostles  of  our  blessed  Lord. 

There  is  another  light  in  which  the  consistency  of  the 
scriptures  may  be  considered,  which  merits  a  more  extended 
illustration  :  it  is  their  conformity  with  the  actual  state  of  the 
world.     Truth  is  always  consistent  with  itself,  and  with  all 


196 

other  truths.  Error,  though  it  may  be  disguised,  and  to  su- 
perficial observation,  may  seem  to  bear  a  semblance  of  truth  ; 
yet  in  such  a  wide  field  of  moral,  historical,  and  natural  sci- 
ence, as  is  embraced  in  the  holy  scriptures,  it  is  extremely 
improbable  that  any  scheme  of  falsehood  and  imposture,  fab- 
ricated especially  in  such  an  early  age,  should  not  contain 
many  discrepancies  with  the  actual  system,  moral  or  physi- 
cal, of  the  world,  which  would  be  made  more  and  more  man- 
ifest by  the  improvements  of  science.  But  improvements  in 
genuine  science  have  hitherto  only  more  clearly  elucidated 
and  confirmed  the  doctrines  of  the  scriptures,  and  especially 
the  facts  of  the  sacred  history.  Here  we  see  the  depravity 
of  human  nature,  the  existence  of  which  is  demonstrated  by 
a  most  melancholy  experience,  not  only  asserted,  but  ac- 
counted for,  and  referred  to  a  most  natural  source.  Here  we 
see  a  remedy  provided  for  this  universal  corruption,  confor- 
mable to  the  hopes  of  virtue,  adequate  to  the  fears  of  guilt, 
agreeing  with  the  soundest  principles  of  reason,  yet  such  as 
reason  could  never  have  discovered.  Here  you  trace  the 
origin  of  nations  in  the  immediate  descendants  of  the  great 
postdiluvian  father  of  the  race  ;  and  here  the  different  my- 
thologies of  so  many  people,  and  their  varying  traditions,  re- 
ceive a  reasonable  interpretation,  and  are  reunited  as  in  a 
common  centre. 


197 


THE  CHARACTER  OP  THE  AUTHOR  OF  OUR  RELIGION!  THE 
INSTRUMENTS  HE  EMPLOFED  TO  PROMOTE  IT:    THE 
BENEFICIAL  CONSEQUENCES  WHICH  HAVE  RE- 
SULTED FROM  ITS  PUBLICATION  AND 
RECEPTION  IN  THE  WORLD* 

Among  the  presumptive  evidences  of  the  truth  of  the 
christian  religion,  none,  perhaps,  are  stronger  than  that  which 
arises  from  the  character  of  its  blessed  Author.  No  other 
man  has  ever  existed,  who,  in  his  intercourse  with  the  world, 
was  so  blameless,  so  amiable,  and,  in  every  attribute  which 
deserves  the  esteem  of  mankind,  so  worthy  our  veneration 
and  love.  Such  a  character  would  very  ill  accord  with  the 
duplicity  and  hypocrisy  of  imposture.  As  the  union  of  the 
divine  with  the  human  nature  in  the  person  of  the  Redeemer 
is  a  doctrine  purely  of  revelation,  we  are  not  at  liberty,  while 
only  establishing  the  proofs  of  the  gospel,  to  assume  that  prin- 
ciple in  order  to  exalt  the  virtues  and  perfections  of  Jesus 
Christ.  We  must  consider  him  merely  as  he  appeared  to 
the  view  of  men,  claiming  to  be  the  founder  of  a  new  religion 
derived  immediately  from  God,  that  we  may  judge  how  far 
his  character  corresponded  with  his  high  pretensions,  and 
how  far  these  pretensions  were  supported  by  such  eminent 
virtues,  and  such  freedom  from  error  and  imperfection  in  con- 
duct, as  ought  to  be  expected  in  a  messenger  of  heaven,  the 
example  and  instructor  ef  mankind.     That  he  appeared,  in 


198 

the  eyes  of  his  disciples,  after  their  long  and  intimate  inter- 
course with  him,  and  their  daily  observation  of  his  life  and 
manners,  worthy  of  their  highest  love  and  veneration,  and 
worthy  of  the  heavenly  original  which  he  claimed,  is  strongly 
expressed  in  the  following  declaration  of  Saint  John :  And 
the  Word  was  made  jieshy  and  dwelt  among  us  ;  and  we  be- 
held  his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father, 
full  of  grace  and  truth.^  This  whole  passage,  1  presume, 
refers,  not  to  his  transfiguration,  nor  to  any  of  those  appear- 
ances in  which  he  exhibited  himself  to  his  disciples  immedi- 
ately before  his  ascension,  but  to  that  beauty  of  holiness, 
that  glorious  display  of  virtue  and  perfection  which  shone 
through  his  whole  life,  and  which,  in  every  part  of  it,  was  full 
of  grace  and  truth:  that  is,  conspicuously  distinguished  by 
the  most  amiable  condescension,  and  benignity  of  disposition 
and  manners,!  and  by  the  most  undissembled  and  inviolable 
sincerity. 

Among  the  most  distinguishing,  as  well  as  the  most  vene- 
rable characteristics  of  Jesus  Christ,  was  his  piety  towards 
God.  The  universal  government  of  divine  providence  he 
devoutly  acknowledged  in  every  event  of  his  life.  And,  in 
the  immediate  prospect  of  his  most  painful  death,  and,  after- 
wards, in  the  midst  of  those  excruciating  sufferings,  so  studi- 

*  John  1,  14. 
t  This  is  frequently  the  meaning  of  the  original  term  JC^pUt  and,  perhaps, 
always  when  applied,  as  it  is  here,  in  the  description  of  character. 


199 

ously  aggravated  by  the  ingenuity  and  malice  of  wicked  men, 
you  perceive  no  other  emotions  but  those  of  compassion,  and 
forgiveness  to  his  enemies,  but  the  most  perfect  meekness, 
submission,  and  resignation  to  the  will  of  God.  Often  you 
see  him  retire  apart  from  the  admiration,  or  the  curiosity  of 
the  multitude,  and  the  company  of  bis  disciples,  for  the  pur- 
poses of  secret  devotion,  and,  on  the  sabbath  day,  he  is  care- 
ful to  exhibit  an  instructive  example  of  devout  attendance  on 
the  public  institutions  of  religion  in  the  assemblies  of  the  syna- 
gogue. Ever  warm,  humble,  and  affectionate  in  his  devo- 
tional exercises,  you  perceive  in  them,  however,  nothing  of 
those  ecstacies,  nor  of  those  bold  familiarities  with  heaven, 
which  distinguish  the  spirit  of  enthusiasm.  And  in  that 
model  of  prayer  which  he  gave  his  disciples,  which,  for  com- 
prehension of  thought,  for  a  just  selection  of  the  objects  of 
prayer,  and  for  the  true  spirit  of  devotion  has  never  been 
equalled,  you  find  the  genuine  fervors  of  piety  united  with 
the  most  calm,  dignified,  and  rational  expression  of  the  de- 
vout feelings  of  the  heart. 

When  we  descend  to  that  part  of  his  character,  which  was 
exhibited  in  his  intercourse  with  mankind,  it  is,  in  the  high- 
est degree  amiable  and  interesting,  and  worthy  our  admira- 
tion and  imitation.  The  spirit  of  meekness  and  humility 
breathed  through  his  whole  life  and  manners  ;  and  his  be- 
nevolence and  charity  knew  no  bounds.  Always  engaged 
in  instructing  the  ignorant  and  comforting  the  afflicted,  you 


200 

behold  him  continuallj-  surrounded  with  multitudes  of  poor, 
of  maimed,  of  blind,  of  diseased,  listening  to  his  instructions 
and  consolations,  and  seeking  relief  from  that  benevolent 
power  which  he  was  erer  ready  to  exercise  in  their  behalf. 
His  love  of  sincerity  and  truth  would  never  suSer  him  to  dis- 
guise his  designs,  even  when  he  knew  that  his  enemies  were 
only  waiting  for  his  declaration  to  wreak  upon  him  their  most 
cruel  and  murderous  rage.  Yet,  it  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
suflferings  inflicted  by  their  cruelty  and  rage  that  the  united 
virtues  of  his  character  shone  with  the  brighest  lustre  ;  sub- 
mission to  the  will  of  God  ;  zeal  for  the  happiness  and  salva- 
tion of  mankind,  the  great  object  for  which  he  laboured  up- 
on earth  ;  the  unruflfled  meekness  of  his  nature  under  the  in- 
juries and  indignities  of  his  persecutors  ;  compassion  and 
forgiveness  towards  his  enemies  in  the  midst  of  the  tortures 
which  he  endured  from  their  hands  ;  the  dutiful  affection  and 
care  of  a  son  towards  a  destitute  and  afflicted  mother  stand- 
ing at  the  foot  of  his  cross,  which  no  bodily  torment  could 
suspend  in  his  heart  for  a  moment ;  the  whole  crowned  by 
that  last  fervent  act  of  benevolence  and  devotion,  in  which 
he  expired  :  Father  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do.  How  unlike  an  impostor !  How  far  superior  to 
the  life,  and  the  death  of  heroes,  or  philosophers  !  Rous- 
seau in  one  of  those  moments  of  warm  and  generous  admira- 
tion of  virtue  which  he  sometimes  felt,  comparing  the  death 
of  Jesus  Christ  with  that  of  Socrates,  gives  to  the  founder  of 
Christianity  an  infinite  preference  to  the  Athenian  sage. 


201 

This  character  of  Jesus  Christ,  indeed,  is  drawn  from  the 
memoirs  of  his  life  written  by  disciples,  who  may  be  sup- 
posed to  have  coloured  it  with  a  pencil  tinctured  by  their 
partiality  for  a  beloved  master.  But  let  it  be  remembered 
that  the  gospels,  were  evidently  not  written  with  any  direct 
view  of  making  the  eulogy  of  Christ,  but  merely  to  present 
to  us  a  narrative  of  his  actions  and  discourses,  which  is  done 
with  the  most  undesigning  simplicity.  The  character  we  de- 
rive from  the  facts  as  they  have  presented  them. 

To  draw  a  uniform,  consistent,  and  noble  character,  from 
imagination,  which  shall  be  entirely  new  in  its  principal  fea- 
tures, is  one  of  the  most  difficult  works  of  genius,  and  not 
to  be  expected  from  men  in  that  sphere  of  life  in  which  the 
disciples  moved.  But  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  invent  a 
consistent,  yet  diversified  series  of  actions  from  which  the 
character,  strongly  and  distinctly  marked,  shall  naturally 
arise  to  the  view  of  the  reader.  Besides,  we  have  four  se- 
parate memoirs,  evidently  written  without  any  concert  of 
their  authors,  which  still,  however,  present  to  us  the  same 
picture  of  life  and  manners.^     A  biographical  picture,  thus 


*  fVritten  without  any  concert  of  their  authors  ;  for  although  they  present  to  us 
nearly  the  same  transactions,  and  discourses,  yet  it  is  not  done  with  that  identity 
either  in  the  substance  of  tlie  narration,  or  the  order  of  time  which  would  indi- 
cate preconcert,  or  design.  On  the  other  hand,  we  perceive  such  differences  as 
would  naturally  occur  in  the  narratives  of  iutelligeut  and  honest  men  giving,  af- 
ter a  certain  interval  of  time,  the  history  of  the  same  events,  without  any  know- 
ledge of  each  other's  testimony,  or  any  study  to  make  them  accord ;  and  yet  with 

26 


202 

depicted  simply  by  actions,  drawn  by  men  whose  plain  and 
stound  understandings  enabled  them  only  to  exhibit  without 
embellishment  what  they  actually  saw  and  heard,  but  who 
were  utterly  incapable  of  dramatic  fiction,  carries  in  itself 
the  strongest  claims  to  be  received  as  genuine.  It  is,  be- 
sides, so  peculiar,  so  utterly  unlike  whatever  had  before 
been  exhibited  among  men  either  in  the  history  of  real  life, 
or  in  fiction,  that  it  can  never  be  conceived  to  be  the  mere 
creation  of  writers  who  were  wholly  incompetent  to  such  es- 
says of  genius  and  fancy.  In  every  view,  it  bears  the  irre- 
sistible impressions  of  truth  and  nature.  A  character,  how 
worthy  the  messenger  of  peace,  and  salvation  to  mankind, 
who  claimed  the  high  and  holy  relation  of  being  the  Son  of 
God! 

One  peculiarity  in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  especially  mer- 
its our  most  serious  consideration,  as  it  demonstrates  that  he 
could  not  have  acted  on  any  suggestions  of  human  policy  or 
wisdom.  In  order  to  place  it  in  its  just  light,  it  is  necessary 
again  to  carry  back  our  view  to  the  state  of  public  opinion  in 
the  Jewish  nation  at  that  period.  The  belief  that  the  com- 
ing of  the  Messiah  was  just  at  hand  was  then  strong  and  uni- 
versal.  The  Jews,  proud  of  their  exclusive  relation  to  God  as 


such  uniformity,  and  such  consistency  in  the  whole  character,  even  when  one  in- 
troduces new  facts,  of  which  the  others  have  not  spoken,  as  clearly  demonstrates 
that  they  are  drawing  from  life,  and  that  they  all  have  the  same  original  before 
them. 


203 

Lis  chosen  people,  and  impatient  of  the  yoke  which  had  late« 
\y  been  imposed  upon  them  by  the  Romans,  expected  in 
their  Messiah  a  martial  prince  and  a  conqueror,  who  should 
deliver  them  from  the  power  of  their  enemies,  and  enable 
them  to  conquer  in  their  turn.  In  such  a  state  of  the  public 
sentiment  and  feeling,  impatient,  agitated,  anxious,  moment- 
ly waiting  for  the  appearance  of  some  great  deliverer,  many 
daring  spirits  would  naturally  arise  to  offer  themselves  as  lead- 
ers in  the  honourable  and  popular  enterprise  of  rescuing  the 
nation  from  its  abject  humiliation,  and  raising  it  to  that  splen- 
dor and  glory  so  eagerly  anticipated  by  every  Jew.  IWinds 
of  a  fanatical  and  enthusiastic  turn,  inflamed  to  a  degree  of 
insanity  by  sympathy  with  the  general  fervor,  would  imagine 
themselves  to  be  the  instruments  destined  by  heaven  to  ac- 
complish this  glorious  purpose.  Whereas  others,  of  a  cold 
impiety,  but  of  a  bold  and  resolute  temper,  calculating  on 
the  possibility  of  turning  the  national  ardor  to  their  own  ag- 
grandizement, would  cherish  the  daring  ambition  of  usurping 
the  government  by  force  of  arms,  and  placing  themselves  on 
the  throne  of  Judea.  But,  whether  actuated  by  a  spirit  of 
fanaticism,  or  imposture,  and  under  one  or  other  of  these 
classes  all  pretenders  must  be  ranged,  they  would  equally 
move  under  the  impulse  of  the  public  sentiment,  and  be  di- 
rected by  it  in  their  choice  of  the  means  to  accomplish  their 
end.  They  would,  therefore,  aln^ays  appear  at  the  head  of 
armed  bands.  And  such  was  the  fact,  according  to  the  testi- 
mony  of  the  cotemporary  historian  Josephus.     For,  of  all 


204 

the  numei'ous  impostors,  who  sprung  up  in  Judea  pretend- 
ing to  be  Messiah,  a  little  before  the  ministry  of  our  Saviour, 
and,  from  that  period,  till  the  final  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
there  was  not  one  who  did  not  attempt  to  support  his  claim 
by  arms.  Not  so  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  deviated  en- 
tirely from  this  course,  which  nature  and  human  policy  would 
have  pointed  out  to  him,  and  chose  one  in  every  respect  op- 
posite. The  vain  and  proud  expectations  of  the  Jews  he 
refused  to  gratify.  He  openly  declared  that  his  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world.  Instead  of  affecting  the  splendor  of  roy- 
alty, or  the  authority  of  command,  he  renounced  all  worldly 
pomp  and  grandeur.  Instead  of  the  weapons  of  force  and 
compulsion,  he  employed  only  the  meekness  of  instruction 
and  persuasion.  Instead  of  conciliating  the  favour  of  the 
Jewish  nation  by  courting  their  prejudices,  he  boldly  and 
openly  declared  to  them  that  their  national  policy,  and  even 
their  national  existence  as  the  peculiar  people  of  God,  should 
soon  come  to  a  period.  He  did  not  allure  his  disciples  to 
his  party  by  the  prospects  of  honour,  emolument,  or  com- 
mand, but  by  inculcating  humility  and  selfdenial,  and  pro- 
posing to  them,  in  his  service,  only  arduous  trials,  incessant 
persecutions,  and  unrewarded  labours.  This  is  a  course 
which  not  only  nature,  and  human  wisdom  would  not  have 
pointed  out,  in  the  circumstances  in  which  he  chose  it,  but 
which  judging  on  all  the  acknowledged  principles  of  proba- 
bility, could  only  have  tended  to  ruin  his  hopes.  The  hum- 
ble, peaceful,  patient,  and  selfdenied  character  which  he  as> 


205 

sumed,  so  widely  different  from  that  to  which  the  spirit  of 
that  age  and  nation  would  have  urged  him,  affords  ample  proof 
that  he  was  not  governed  bj  any  maxims  of  worldy  policy. 
And  his  success,  notwithstanding  the  entire  defect  of  all  the 
measures,  or  precautions  which  human  wisdom  would  have 
prescribed,  and  in  opposition  to  the  contempt,  the  indignation, 
and  power  of  a  whole  nation,  whose  wounded  pride,  and  dis- 
appointed hopes,  had  inflamed  their  passions  to  a  degree  of  fu- 
ry which  threatened  ta  crush  him,  and  all  his  designs  in  an  in- 
stant, supplies  the  strongest  presumption  that  the  work  was 
not  of  men  but  of  God,  who,  with  a  silent,  but  irresistible  op- 
eration, often  confounds  the  counsels  of  the  wise,  and  defeats 
the  power  of  the  mighty,  and  conducts  the  designs  of  his  own 
providence,  by  secret,  and  inscrutable  springs,  to  the  most 
wonderful  and  unexpected  issues. 

Conformable  to  the  character  which  the  Saviour  assumed 
were  the  instruments  which  he  employed  to  propagate  his  re- 
ligion. He  chose  men  from  the  humblest  walks  of  life,  with- 
out power,  without  influence,  without  science,  without  elo- 
quence ;  and  yet,  strictly  forbidding  every  attempt  to  extend 
his  doctrines  by  compulsion  and  force,  he  commanded  them 
to  rely  for  success  in  their  mission  simply  on  their  plain  un. 
varnished  exposition  of  the  truth,  under  the  guidance  of  that 
divine  Spirit  which  he  promised  them  to  co-operate  with 
their  preachmg.  What  could  be  expected,  on  every  ground 
of  haman  calculation,  from  the  choice  of  such  instruments  for 


206 

a  work  of  this  peculiar  nature,  and  of  such  infinite  magnitude 
and  difficulty,  but  failure  and  disgrace  ?    Could  men  in  their 
rank  of  life,  and  possessing  only  their  talents,  have  raised  their 
minds  to  such  a  mighty  enterprise  as  that  of  changing  the  moral 
state  of  the  whole  world  ?  If  they  had  been  bold  enough  to  ad- 
mit the  thought,  was  there  any  example  in  the  history  of  human 
events  which  could  have  encouraged  the  smallest  hope  of  suc- 
cess? Yet,  we  have  seen  them,  in  obedience  to  the  command  of 
their  master,  although  with  reluctance  at  first,  under  the  con- 
sciousness of  their  own  impotence,  enter  on  this  astonishing  en- 
terprise ;  and  we  have  seen  it,  contrary  to  every  principle  of 
probable  reasoning,  gloriously  accomplished  in  their  hands. 
Well  may  we  ask,  then,  if  the  choice  of  such  instruments  is 
not  a  new  proof  that  our  blessed  Saviour  did  not  take  coun- 
sel of  human  wisdom,  nor  act  on  any  plan  that  the  cunning 
spirit  of  imposture  would  have  dictated  ?  And,  when  we  con- 
template the  wonderful  revolution  which  they  have  effected, 
does  not  the  conclusion,  almost  irresistibly,  force  itself  upon 
the  mind,  that  they  must  have  acted  under  a  divine  direc- 
tion ? 

But,  omitting  all  other  arguments  of  the  presumptive  class, 
I  shall  only  further  offer  to  your  consideration  that  strong 
presumption  which  arises  from  the  effects  which  the  christian 
religion  has  had  on  the  interests,  and  happiness,  the  religious 
opinions,  morals  and  manners  of  society.  That  the  publica- 
tion of  the  gospel  has  produced  an  important  revolution  in 


207 

the  moral  and  religious  state  of  the  world,  is  obvious  to  all 
who  have  sufficient  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  nations, 
and  of  human  nature,  to  be  able  to  compare  the  past  with  the 
present :  and  that  this  revolution  has,  upon  the  whole,  been 
salutary,  and  has  contributed,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  hap- 
piness of  mankind,  can  hardly  be  denied  by  any  well  inform- 
ed, and  candid  unbeliever. 

The  beneficial  effects  of  the  christian  revelation  may  be 
considered  under  two  views :  the  great  and  visible  improve- 
ment of  the  world  in  religious  and  divine  knowledge  in  conse- 
quence of  the  prevalence  of  Christianity ;  and  the  practical 
improvement,  especially  of  the  christian  nations,  in  morals 
and  manners. 

Much  has  been  said  already,  on  the  great  superiority  of 
the  theological  and  moral  system  of  the  sacred  scriptures, 
above  all  that  philosophy  ever  taught  among  the  disciples  of 
human  wisdom,  or  superstition  ever  substituted  for  religion 
among  the  vulgar.  But  the  beneficial  influence  of  the  gos- 
pel is  not  to  be  looked  for  chiefly  among  men  of  science,  who 
form  but  a  small  portion  of  any  nation,  nor  to  be  measured 
principally  by  the  excellence  of  its  doctrines  compared  with 
the  institutions  of  philosophy,  but  by  the  illumination  which 
it  has  shed  through  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  In  this 
class,  who  were  once  thought  to  be  incapable  of  any  rational 
consideration  of  those  sublime  subjects,  do  we  not  now  find 


208 

truer  notions  of  God,  purer  conceptions  of  the  worship  due 
to  him,  juster  principles  of  duty,  a  more  perfect  system  of 
.  the  rules  of  moral  conduct,  and  higher  and  nobler  motives  to 
enforce  those  rules  in  practice,  than  were  ever  known  even 
to  the  few  sages  who  appeared  here  and  there  like  stars  in 
the  dark  night  of  paganism  ?  This  is  certainly  the  greatest 
and  sublimest  effect  which  has  ever  been  produced  by  moral 
instruction.  No  where  do  we  now  behold  such  objects  of 
worship  as  Jupiter  or  Juno,  as  Mars  or  Apollo,  whose  vices 
would  have  been  an  additional  stain  on  the  reputation  of  the 
most  immoral  of  their  worshippers.  Still  less  do  we  see  tem- 
ples erected  to  such  deities  as  Bacchus  or  Venus ;  or  such 
ridiculous,  lewd,  and  beastly  sprites  as  Fauns  and  Satyrs,  as 
Priapus  and  Pan.  We  no  longer  witness  the  revels  of  a  ho- 
liday substituted  for  the  pure  worship  of  Almighty  God, 
which  should  consist  in  solemn  acts  of  homage  and  venera- 
tion ;  in  penitent  acknowledgments  of  our  sins,  in  devout  me- 
ditations on  the  works  and  perfections  of  the  Creator,  in  grate- 
ful recollections  of  his  innumerable  mercies,  and  in  the  pious 
anticipation  of  those  heavenly  and  immortal  hopes  which  of- 
fer the  most  powerful  motives  to  the  true  believer  to  live  vir- 
tuously, and  form  his  best  preparation  to  die  peacefully. 
The  offices  of  religion,  that  were  performed  in  the  pagan 
temples,  did  not,  in  any  country,  embrace  tlie  moral  instruc- 
tion of  the  people.  The  functions  of  the  priesthood  were  all 
fulfilled  in  the  regular  discharge  of  a  ritual  of  unmeaning,  or 
fantastic  ceremonies.    Piety  or  good  morals  were  not  es- 


209 

teemed  requisite  even  to  the  sacerdotal  character.  How 
dilSerent  are  those  pious  offices  which  are  performed  in  our 
christian  temples !  What  a  school  are  they  become  to  the 
people  of  that  knowledge  most  important  to  the  interests  and 
happiness  of  mankind !  With  what  advantages  in  the  church, 
that  is,  under  the  immediate  inspection  and  authority  of  Al- 
mighty God,  are  they  initiated  in  that  most  perfect  discipline 
which  embraces  the  whole  compass  of  their  duties  to  God 
and  man,  and  provides  most  certainly  for  the  happiness  both 
of  their  present,  and  their  future  being!  Idolatry,  with  its 
impious  and  immoral  train,  has  been  banished  from  all  its  an- 
cient seats  in  the  civilized  world.  For  Christianity  has  in 
this,  and  in  many  other  respects,  extended  a  salutary  influ- 
ence far  beyond  the  nations  embraced  within  its  actual  pale. 

If  Christianity  has  introduced  into  the  great  mass  of  socie- 
ty a  more  perfect  knowledge  than  they  enjoyed  before,  of 
those  moral  and  divine  principles  most  useful  and  important  to 
the  practical  understanding  and  discharge  of  all  their  duties^ 
it  has,  in  the  same  proportion,  opened  the  true  sources  of 
enjoyment  to  all  who  sincerely  embrace  and  believe  its  doc= 
trines.  Their  happy  influence  will  be  perceived  by  a  good 
man  in  every  situation  wherein  he  can  be  placed,  in  the  com 
posure  of  his  spirit,  in  the  sense  of  the  continual  presence, 
favour,  and  protection  of  Almighty  God,  in  that  filial  affec- 
tion and  trust  withj^which  he  confides  in  the  divine  mercy, 
•and  that  security  with  which  the  spirit  of  faith  reposes  on 


210 

the  true  foundation  of  our  eternal  hopes.  But  the  gracious 
and  beneficent  power  of  the  gospel,  and  the  preciousness  of 
its  consolations,  will  be  peculiarly  felt  under  the  various  af- 
flictions which  God  hath  found  it  necessary  or  useful  to  in- 
troduce into  the  discipline  of  our  present  state  of  probation. 
There  are  comforts  in  religion  which  can  enable  the  pious 
heart  to  throw  off  the  pressure  of  all  its  sorrows.  But,  that 
I  may  not  enter  too  far  into  disquisitions  which  would  bet- 
ter become  the  pulpit,  I  will  confine  myself  briefly  to  point 
out  the  consolation  and  support  it  affords  the  soul  at  the  ap- 
proach of  death.  The  weakness  of  human  nature,  if  it  is 
not  supported  by  religious  hope,  commonly  meets  this  awful 
term  of  our  earthly  existence  with  extreme  solicitude.  And 
the  consciousness  of  guilt,  which  is  apt  (o  be  awakened  in  the 
heart  when  we  are  approaching  the  presence  of  the  Supreme 
Judge,  and  when  all  the  illusions  of  the  passions,  and  the 
world,  which  had  diverted  reflection,  are  passed  away, 
greatly  aggravates  to  most  men  the  distress  of  dying.  Their 
utter  ignorance  of  all  that  is  beyond  this  life,  and  the  fearful 
apprehensions  natural  to  weakness  and  guilt,  of  what  may 
take  place  hereafter,  must  often  agitate  with  terror,  or  hang 
with  peculiar  heaviness,  on  the  departing  spirit  which  is  not 
enlightened  by  revelation.  The  polite  and  learned  nations  of 
antiquity,  although  they  had  some  notions  of  the  existence  of 
the  soul  after  the  dissolution  of  the  body,  and  some  appre- 
hensions of  a  future  retribution  to  virtue,  and  to  vice,  yet  had 
framed  no  clear  and  satisfactory  ideas  on  these  subjects  on 


211 

which  reason  could  rely:  all  their  representations  of  the 
state  of  departed  souls,  therefore,  were  melancholy  and 
gloomy  in  the  extreme.  What  ineffable  consolation,  then, 
has  the  gospel  brought  to  countless  millions  of  the  human 
race  ?  What  comfort  has  it  shed  upon  the  hour  of  death  ? 
what  illumination  on  the  darkness  of  the  tomb,  by  bring- 
ing life  and  immortality  to  light  I  It  has  pointed  out, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  the  way,  at  once,  to  a  happy  death, 
and  to  the  certain  hope  of  a  blessed  and  eternal  existence. 
To  the  real  christian,  who  believes  its  promises,  and  confides 
in  its  hopes,  the  comforts  which  it  sheds  on  this  most  inter- 
esting crisis  of  our  being  are  beyond  every  estimate  which 
can  be  formed  of  their  value,  and  must  greatly  strengthen  in 
his  heart  that  faith  which  has  been  created  and  nourished 
there  by  its  holy  doctrines. 

Suffer  nie  now  to  conclude  these  evidences  with  an  obser- 
vation which  is  of  great  importance  in  order  to  a  just  view  of 
the  influence  of  the  christian  system  on  the  general  happiness 
of  the  world.  Although  the  knowledge  of  its  divine  truths 
has  not  been  actually  communicated  to  all  nations ;  yet  it 
teaches  us  to  believe  that  the  whole  human  race  do,  in  a  very 
great  degree,  participate  in  its  blessings.  From  the  moment 
of  the  fall  of  our  original  parent,  and  the  merciful  promise  of 
that  heavenly  seed  who,  from  the  beginning  was  destined  to 
repair  the  evils  of  his  transgression,  the  world  has  been  placed 
under  an  administration  of  grace  in  the  hands  of  the  Media- 


21t2 

tor,  suited  to  its  degenerate  condition.  And  now,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  atonement  made  by  the  Lamb  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  and  of  the  assistance  of  the  holy 
Spirit,  which  through  the  one  obkition  offered  on  the  cross, 
has  been  imparted  to  all  men  to  direct  and  strengthen  the  dic- 
tates of  conscience  in  their  breasts,  salvation  has  been  render- 
ed possible  to  sincere  repentance,  and  regeneration  of  heart 
in  every  age,  and  in  every  nation,  even  where  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  has  not  been  explicitly  revealed.*  For  the  ho- 
ly apostle  Peter  hath  taught  us,  what  a  heavenly  vision  re- 
vealed to  him  :  that,  through  the  death  and  mediation  of  the 
ever  blessed  Saviour,  in  every  nation,  he  that  ftareth  God, 


*  The  pious  men  in  the  patriarchal  ages,  and  generally  in  the  ancient  world, 
could  have  had  no  definite,  and  evangelical  apprehensions  of  the  character  of  the 
Saviour,  notwithstanding  it  was  through  the  efficacy  of  his  atonement  that  they 
had  access  to  God,  and  by  his  Spirit  they  were  sanctified.  The  same  Sprit  is  im- 
parted, in  a  degree,  to  tlie  heathen  world,  in  every  age,  who,  applying  with  a  di- 
vine efScacy  the  law  of  nature  to  the  consciences  of  men,  becomes,  to  many  among 
ihem,  a  principle  of  sincere  repentance  and  regeneration  of  heart. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Braiuerd  in  the  journal  of  his  mission  among  the  Indians,  relates 
a  striking  anecdote,  very  much  to  the  present  point,  of  an  aged  man  whom  he  met 
\vith,  who,  in  his  original  state  of  hcatlienism,  had  gained,  from  his  own  reflec- 
tions, and  the  exercises  of  his  own  heart,  under  the  influence  of  that  divine  Spiril, 
wliich  he  acknowledged,  an  acquaintance  with  the  most  important  practical  princi- 
ples of  real  piety,  as  far,  probably,  as,  without  the  explicit  knowledge  of  the  Me- 
diator, and  the  atonement,  they  were  generally  attained  even  by  the  best  men  in 
the  ancient  and  patriarchal  world.  Mr.  Brainerd,  after  free  and  repeated  con- 
versations with  him  on  the  most  practical  subjects  of  religion,  declares  that  if  he 
thought  it  possible  for  a  heathen  to  be  a  truly  pious  man,  without  the  direct  know- 
ledge of  Jesus  Christ,  he  would  have  concluded  this  Indian  to  be  such.  In  this 
remark,  indeed,  we  perceive  a  certain  illiberality  of  opinion,  which,  considering 
the  powerful  effect,  on  many  minds,  of  the  prejudices  of  education,  is,  perhaps, 
rather  to  be  lamented  than  severely  censured.  This  pious  missionary  forgot  the 
jreasQningof  saint  Paul  in  the  third  chapter  of  his  epistle  to  tlie  Romans. 


213 

and  rvorketh  righteousness,  is  accepted  with  him.  This  is 
the  foundation  of  our  hope  with  regard  to  the  pious  men  of 
the  ancient  world :  and  on  the  same  grounds  may  we  still 
build  a  reasonable  hope,  that  those  distant  corners  of  the 
earth,  which  seem  covered  with  the  profoundest  darknessj 
preserve,  at  all  times,  many  of  the  chosen  vessels  of  mercy» 
And,  although  the  sun  of  righteousness  has  not  yet  lifted  his 
beams  on  all  nations,  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  he  is  in 
his  glorious  progress  ;  and  that  as  the  plans  of  divine  provi- 
dence are  hastening  to  their  full  development,  the  gospel  will 
shortly  be  extended  along  with  the  improvements  of  civili- 
zation and  science,  over  the  whole  earth,  and  involv^e  all  na- 


Will  it  be  asked,  what  advantages  then,  if  the  principle  which  has  been  stated 
above  be  just,  have  the  christian  nations  over  those  who  enjoy  only  the  faint  glim- 
merings of  the  light  of  nature  p  I  answer,  that,  although  men,  who  enjoy  only  the 
imperfect  lights  of  nature,  together  with  those  gleams  of  original  truth  which 
have  been  preserved  by  a  tradition  that  is  not  yet  entirely  extinct  among  any 
people,  may,  through  repentance  and  sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  be  saved  by  a 
Redeemer  whom  they  have  not  distinctly  known,  yet  must  they  be  subject,  through 
life,  to  many,  and  distressing  doubts  and  anxieties  which  the  native  weakness  of 
fauman  reason  is  unable  to  resolve.  Besides,  the  nations  who  enjoy  the  blessed 
light  of  the  gospel  possess  much  clearer  and  more  ample  means  of  knowledge  and 
pf  grace,  more  efficient  motives  of  duty,  more  consoling  hopes,  than  those  who  are 
left  to  the  obscure  teachings  of  reason  unenlightened  by  revelation.  And,  if 
such  means  and  motives  have  in  their  own  nature,  and  independently  on  the  more 
abundant  influences  of  the  divine  Spirit,  which  accompany  them  under  the  chris- 
tian dispensation,  a  powerful  tendency  to  promote  the  spirit,  and  to  advance  the 
interests  of  piety  and  virtue,  how  greatly  must  the  numbers  of  pious  men  be  mul- 
tiplied under  the  full  illumination  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness? 

To  these  reflections  it  may  be  added,  that  if  higher  degrees  of  purity,  and  sanc- 
tity of  heart  and  life  be  the  natural  result  of  the  clearer  lights,  and  nobler  privi- 
leges of  the  gospel,  a  principle  most  reasonable  in  itself,  will  it  not  follow  likewise 
that  proportionably  richer  and  more  glorious  rewards  shall  crown  the  obedicQcc 
pf  the  sincere  christian  in  the  everlasting  presence  of  his  Redeemer  ? 


214 

tions  in  the  splendor  of  his  rays.  When  this  blessed  era 
shall  arrive,  shall  we  not  find  an  abundant  compensation  for 
the  partial  darkness,  or  the  feeble  dawn,  which  has  so  long 
over  spread  the  world,  not  only  in  the  superior  duration,  but 
in  the  superior  glory  of  that  period,  when,  to  use  the  beautiful 
and  expressive  figure  of  the  prophet,  the  light  of  the  moon 
shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  surtj  and  the  light  of  the  sun  shall 
be  sevenfold,  as  the  light  of  seven  days. 


OF  THE  PRINCIPLES 


REVEALED  RELIGION. 


Ist.    OF  THE  HOLr  TRINITY. 


IHE  TRINITY, 

OR 

THREEFOLD  EXISTENCE  OF  THE  DEITY. 


In  entering  on  the  investigation  of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of 
revelatioir,  the  first  object  which  meets  our  attention  is  the 
Trinity,  or  Threefold  Existence  of  the  Deity. 

The  existence  of  God  is  equally  the  foundation  of  natu= 
ral  and  of  revealed  Religion.  But  in  the  sacred  scriptures 
it  assumes  an  aspect  new  and  peculiar.  The  Holy  Spirit 
has  revealed  in  them  a  modification  of  the  divine  essence  un- 
known to  the  lights  of  nature.  Its  unity  indeed,  is  not  im- 
paired ;  but  we  are  taught  to  believe  in  the  coexistence  of 
three  infinite,  eternal  and  equal  natures  or  persons  in  one 
most  holy  and  undivided  Godhead.  As  this  is  a  doctrine 
entirely  beyond  the  discoveries  of  human  reason,  it  is  our  du= 
fy  to  receive  it  simply  as  a  revealed  fad^  without  attempting 
too  curiously  to  pry  into  the  inscrutable  mode  of  this  divine 
union,  which,  must  transcend  the  comprehension  of  our 
minds.  Perhaps,  however,  it  is  not  farther  beyond  our  intel= 
lectual  capacities  to  form  distinct  conceptions  of  a  Trinity  in 

union,  than  it  is  clearly  to  conceive  of  God  himself  as  pre- 

28 


218 

sen  ted  to  our  thoughts  hy  natural  religion.  Each  of  his  per- 
fections offers  to  the  mind  impenetrable  diflSculties,  and,  in 
many  of  their  circumstances,  apparent  contradictions.  The 
christian  system  embraces  three  infinite  subsistences,  or  per- 
sons, equally  the  objects  of  divine  worship  ;  and  all  included 
in  one  self-existent  and  eternal  essence,  only  sustaining  dif- 
ferent relations  to  mankind.  This  doctrine  justly  excites 
our  wonder,  and  confounds  the  imbecility  of  our  minds. 
But  we  are  not  without  an  analogy  in  our  own  nature  to  facil- 
itate our  conception  of  the  possibility  of  the  fact.  The  un- 
derstanding, the  will,  and  the  affections,  often  enter  equally 
into  the  acts  of  the  soul ;  yet,  so  that  we  do  not  discern  in 
each  operation  of  the  intellect,  volition,  or  affection  only  a 
third  part  of  its  force ;  but  we  perceive  that  the  whole  soul  is 
exerted  in  the  act,  and  the  power  of  each  principle  is  as  the 
entire  energy  of  the  soul.  It  would,  indeed,  be  impious  to 
imagine  that  the  human  mind  affords  any  adequate  type  of 
the  Supreme  and  Infinite  Spirit,  but  it  certainly  yields  an 
analogy  by  which  our  conceptions  may  be  aided  of  three 
distinct  and  equal  powers  in  one  simple  and  undivided  es- 
sence in  which  the  energy  of  the  whole  is  exerted  in  the 
operations  of  each. 

Those  who  are  unfriendly  to  (he  evangelic  system  often 
reproach  believers  on  this  subject,  as  receiving  a  doctrine 
that  is  unreasonable  only  because  it  h  above  the  investiga- 
tion of  reason.     This  is  a  distinction  which  cannot  fail  to 


219 

meet  the  thinking  mind  in  the  contemplation  of  innumerable 
subjects  in  nature.  We  see  the  fact,  but  we  cannot  under- 
stand the  manner  of  its  existence,  nor  free  it  from  inexplica- 
ble difficulties  which  equally  embarrass  the  wise,  and  the  ig- 
norant. Who  can  explain  the  ubiquity  of  God,  without  ex- 
tension, or  division  of  parts  ?  Who  can  reconcile  his  immu- 
tability, and  the  steadfastness  of  nature  with  the  promises  of 
his  protection  to  good  men  ?  Or  who  render  free  from  the 
most  embarrassing  perplexities  two  of  the  most  evident 
truths,  the  perfect  liberty  of  human  action,  and  the  infallible 
foreknowledge,  and  preordination  of  events,  the  one,  the 
most  obvious  dictate  of  experience,  the  other,  among  the 
most  certain  principles  of  science  ?  In  any  revelation  from 
God  concerning  himself,  have  we  not  the  justest  grounds  to 
expect  many  discoveries  which  would  otherwise,  have  far 
transcended  the  discoveries,  and  perhaps,  the  distinct  con- 
ceptions of  our  reason.  We  must  judge  with  infinite  imper- 
fection, or  absurdity  of  the  divine  nature,  if  we  receive  no 
revelation  concerning  it  but  what  we  can  measure  by  the  fee- 
ble powers  of  the  human  intellect. — On  such  transcendent 
subjects  when  convinced  that  God  has  spoken,  it  is  the  first 
duty  of  a  christian  to  receive  implicitly  the  declarations  of 
his  holy  word,  without  any  attempt  to  bring  them  down  to 
the  level  of  our  own  minds. 

It  is  a  natural  inquiry,  which  has  been  often  made,  whence 
can  arise  any  moral  benefit  from  the  revelation  of  a  Trin- 


220 

Ity,  wlien  it  is  confessed  that  human  reason  is  incapable  of 
conceiving  the  mode  of  the  divine  existence  ?  I  answer  that 
the  utilitj  of  this  revelation  is  precisely  similar  to  that  which 
is  derived  from  the  knowledge  of  the  being  of  God.  The 
belief  presents  to  our  ideas  a  Legislator  and  a  Judge,  an  ob- 
ject of  worship  and  of  holy  fear,  a  law  of  duty,  and  the  mosf 
powerful  sanction  of  that  law.  For  although  we  cannot  dis- 
tinctly conceive  of  the  divine  nature,  nor  expand  the  mind  to 
the  comprehension  of  infinite  perfection  ;  yet  as  far  as  is 
Competent  to  all  the  purposes  of  piely  and  virtue,  we  are 
able  to  understand  the  relations  of  his  justice,  his  power,  his 
wisdom,  and  his  goodness  (o  us  as  moral  beings.  In  like 
manner,  although  the  threefold  existence  of  the  Deity  is  most 
mysterious  and  inscrutable,  yet  the  belief  of  this  doctrine  as 
it  is  revealed  offers  God  to  the  understanding  and  the  heart,  in 
the  threefold  relation  of  our  Creator,  our  Saviour,  and  the  Il- 
luminator and  sanctifier  of  our  nature  ; — in  one  word  as  the 
Moral  Governor  of  the  world  in  reference  to  our  redemption. 
These  relations  can  be  clearly  understood  by  man  and  are  in- 
finitely important  to  him,  as  an  offending  creature  to  be  known. 
In  them  lies  all  his  consolation,  and  the  foundation  of  his  hope 
for  eternal  life. 


221 


rESTIGES  OF  THIS  DOCTRINE  HANDED  DOWN  BT 

TRADITION  AMONG  ALL  THE  CIVILIZED 

NATIONS  OF  ANTIQUITY. 

When  God  bad  formed  the  father  of  our  race  with  rational 
and  moral  powers  which  fitted  him  to  be  the  instructor  and 
governor  of  the  world,  it  is  a  reasonable  presumption  that  he 
should,  at  the  same  time  impart  such  a  knowlege  of  himself  as 
should  be  requsite  to  the  discharge  of  every  duty  which  he 
owed  to  Heaven.  And  certain  it  is,  that,  as  a  pious  parent^ 
he  would  affectionately  and  zealously  communicate  the  pre- 
cious treasure  to  his  immediate  offspring.  For  the  same  reason, 
information  so  important  to  religion,  and  to  society,  would  be 
disseminated  by  the  great  ancestor  of  mankind  after  the  del- 
uge among  the  various  nations  springing  from  him,  the  know- 
ledge, indeed,  communicated  by  tradition,  however  important 
it  may  be  to  human  happiness  or  duty,  loses,  in  the  lapse  of 
time,  much  of  its  precision  and  accuracy,  and  becomes  mixed 
with  fable.  Yet  in  the  multiplied  changes  of  mankind,  if  the 
principle,  which  has  just  been  stated,  be  well  founded,  we 
may  expect  to  find  many  traces  of  a  doctrine  so  intimately 
blended  with  the  first  principles  of  piety  ;  especially  in  those 
countries  whose  moral  history  reaches  nearest  to  the  era  of 
the  deluge. — And  we  do  accordingly  discern,  in  the  records 
of  ancient  learning,  vestiges  of  this  doctrine  which  are  sur- 
prisingly clear,  and  more  uniform  among  people  bo  remotely 


22^ 

oispersed  from  each  other,  than  could  have  been  derived 
from  any  other  source,  than  the  common  parent  of  the  race. 
Orpheus,  whose  name  is  apt  to  be  mingled,  in  our  ideas,  only 
with  fables,  but  who  was  a  great  legislator,  and  the  oldest  of 
the  Grecian  poets,  as  well  as  the  civilizer  of  all  the  north  of 
Greece,  speaks  agreeably  to  the  accurate  researches  of  the 
Chevalier  Ramsay,  of  the  highest  of  all  beings  under  the  de- 
nominations of  light,  understanding,  and  life,  which  were  said 
to  express  the  powers  of  the  same  Deity,  the  Maker  of  all. 
And  Cudworth,  quoting  Timotheus,  informs  us,  [Intellect. 
Lyst.  ch.  4]  that  Orpheus  denominated  the  three  powers  of 
the  divine  nature  Ouranos,  Chronos,  and  Phanes,  the  two  for- 
mer names  of  Greek  origin,  the  latter  an  Egyptian  word  signi- 
fying Love ;  and  the  whole  not  widely  differing  in  the  force 
of  the  terms  from  those  already  produced  from  the  Chevalier 
Ramsay.  Pythagoras  is  known  by  all  acquainted  with  Grecian 
literature,  to  have  maintained  a  Trinity  of  divine  persons. 
His  philosophy  he  derived  from  Egypt,  Chaldea,  Persia  and 
India,  where  similar  doctrines  prevailed.  And  we  learn  from 
Moderatus,  who  was  a  disciple  of  his  school,  that  a  fundamen- 
tal maxim  of  his  theology  was  "  that  God  is  one,  and  from 
him  proceed  two  infinite  beings :  "  which  maxim  he  explains 
and  expands  in  the  following  words-—"  The  first  one  is  above 
all  beings,  the  Second  contains  all  ideas,  the  Third,  which 
he  calls  Xvkh  or  Soul,  partaketh  of  both."  Jambhchus,  the 
famous  antagonist  of  the  christians  says  "  that,  like  them,  there 


were  three  Gods  praised  by  the  Pythagoreans.  And  one*  of 
the  philosophers  of  this  school  denominates  the  second  of 
these  deities  "the  Heavenly  and  Sensible  God." — The  Trin- 
ity of  Plato  is  still  better  known,  the  different  persons  of  which 
he  stiled  "«  Agathon  or  Hen  Nous  or  Logos  and  He  Psuche 
or  HeroSy  interpreted,  the  Good  or  the  one— the  Mind  or 
Reason,  and  the  Soul  or  Love. 

From  the  philosopher,  already  quoted,  we  learn  that  the 
traditions  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  acknowledge  Emeph  as 
the  author  of  truth,  and  creator  of  the  world  ;  but  before 
Eraeph  they  place  the  first  Intelligent,  and  Intelligible  Be- 
ing, who  can  be  adored  only  in  silence,  denominated  Eikton  ; 
but  after  both  is  Ptha,  or  that  Spirit  which  animates  all  things 
by  its  vivifying  flame.  Eusebius  remarks  that  the  hierogly- 
phic of  the  Deity  in  that  nation  was  a  winged  globe,  with  a 
serpent  emerging  from  its  orb.  Of  which  symbol  Sanchoni- 
atho,  in  the  fragments  preserved  by  that  author,  gives  the 
following  explanation  ; — "  The  globe  signifies  the  first,  self- 
existent  Being,  without  beginning,  and  without  end ; — The 
serpent  is  the  emblem  of  divine  wisdom  and  creative  power ; 
and  the  wings,  of  that  active  spirit  which  animates  the  uni- 
verse." In  corroboration  of  this  tradition,  it  was  the  received 
interpretation  of  their  priests  that  the  triangular  obelisks 
erected  at  the  entrance  of  all  their  temples  were  symbols  of 
the  divine  nature. 

*  Hierocle? 


224 

Passing  to  other  ualions,  Plutarch  has  preserved  a  tradi- 
tion of  the  Persian  theology,  that  their  supreme  Deity  Oro- 
masdes  thrice  augmented  himself;  and  he  records  a  celebra- 
ted festival  of  the  Magian  priests  in  honor  of  the  three- 
fold Mythras  ;  the  names  of  whom  were  Oromasdes,  My- 
thras,  and  Mythra.  Since  the  presidency  of  Sir  William 
Jones  in  India  the  existence  of  a  supreme  Trinity  in  the  My- 
thology of  the  Bramins  is  plainly  discerned  in  the  midst  of 
their  innumerable  Gods,  and  symbols,  the  belief  of  which  has 
been  preserved  among  them  from  the  most  remote  antiquity. 
And  the  European  missionaries  to  China  have  discovered 
visible  traces  of  the  same  doctrine  existing  among  that  an- 
cient people. — Such  a  striking  coincidence  in  this  important 
principle  of  religion  among  various  nations,  so  remotely  sit- 
uated from  each  other  certainly  points  to  some  common  origin 
which  can  hardly  be  presumed  to  be  any  other  than  that 
which  has  already  been  suggested. 

An  objection  has  been  raised  against  this  presumptive  evi- 
dence, as  it  may  be  called  in  favour  of  the  doctrine,  and  not 
without  much  appearance  of  plausibility,  arising  from  the 
supposed  silence  of  the  scripture  of  the  Old  Testament. 
This  silence  however  is  more  apparent  than  real,  as  will  ea- 
sily be  discerned  by  the  attentive  reader,  in  the  revelations 
made  to  the  ancient  patriarchs.  That  celebrated  and  ingen- 
ious critic  who  has  been  already  quoted  more  than  once  but 
who  perhaps  has  pushed  this  opinion  beyond  the  truth  of 


225 

■  fact,  thinks  he  discovers  the  different  persons  of  the  adorable 
Trinity  as  distinctly  designated  in  the  writings  of  Moses  as  in 
those  of  the  apostles.  Of  the  living  and  true  God  this  great 
legislator  of  Israel  speaks  under  the  peculiar  appellation  of  Je- 
hovah, but  he  exhibits  him  to  that  nation  under  the  threefold 
denomination  of  Jehovah — Ab, — the  self-existent  Father;  Je- 
hovah—EI, — the  self-existent  Teacher  or  Illuminator;  and  Je- 
hovah-Ruach,  or  the  self-existent  Spirit.  And  Elohim,  under 
which  denomination  the  Eternal  i^  so  often  spoken  of,  by 
Moses,  is  the  plural  of  Eloah,  and  indicates  plurality  of  ex- 
istence. You  cannot  serve  Jehovah,  says  the  author  of  the 
book  of  Joshua,  for  hie  is  the  holy  Elohim;  which  literally 
translated  is,  you  cannot  serve  the  Self- Existent,  for  he  is 
the  holy  Gods.  And  this  is  only  one  example  out  of  many 
throughout  the  sacred  writings.  Hence  the  Jews,  as  ap- 
pears, by  the  oldest  commentators  on  their  law,  seem  at  all 
periods  to  have  entertained  this  principle.  And  in  the  time  of 
our  Saviour,  they  were  evidently  not  offended  at  his  doctrine 
of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit ;  but  at  the  pre- 
sumption, as  they  supposed,  of  his  making  himself  the  Son 
of  God ;  thereby y  making  himself  equal  with  God. 

Such  have  been  the  doctrines,  or  traditions  concerning  the 
divine  existence  cherished  in  the  most  distinguished  nations  of 
the  ancient  world.  And  it  is  far  from  being  an  improbable 
conjecture  that  they  contributed  in  no  small  degree,  to  prepare 
the  minds  of  mankind  for  the  favourable  reception  of  the  true 


226 

doctrine  on  this  subject,  when  it  was  revealed  by  our  blessed 
Saviour. 

But  so  various  is  the  human  mind  in  the  strength  of  its 
powers,  and  the  diversity  of  its  fancies,  or  prepossessions,  that 
it  soon  became  divided  into  different  systems  in  interpreting 
the  sacred  standard  transmitted  to  us  by  Christ,  and  his 
apostles.  Many  crude  notions  seemed  to  rise  and  fall  almost 
at  the  same  moment,  in  the  primitive  church,  being  only  the 
transient  ebullitions  of  a  fanatical  fancy,  arising  from  the 
fermentation  of  ancient  opinions  with  the  new  principles  im- 
perfectly understood.  A  multitude  of  these  errors  are  en- 
numerated  by  all  the  ecclesiastical  historians,  who  merely  re- 
cord their  existence  and  their  extinction.  But  not  having 
been  embraced  by  any  permanent  sect  in  the  church,  they 
merit  little  regard ;  and  are  hardly  entitled  even  to  be  men- 
tioned in  a  system  like  the  present.  A  few  only  of  those 
whose  leaders  have  been  more  distinguished  by  their  talents, 
or  have  made  more  extended  divisions  among  the  body  of 
christians  I  will  recall  to  the  notice  of  my  readers,  merely  stat- 
ing their  peculiar  and  discriminating  ideas  upon  this  subject, 
with  such  conciseness  as  the  brevity  of  this  work  requires. 

The  Sabellians,  who  take  their  denomination  from  a  man 
respectable  for  his  learning  and  talents,  maintain  the  unity  of 
God  in  the  strictest  sense ;  and  interpret  the  titles  of  the  Fa- 
ther, the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  expressive  only  of  the 


227 

different  relations  of  Creator,  Redeemer,  and  Moral  Govern* 
or,  which  he  sustains  to  mankind  in  the  economy  of  their  re- 
demption. Considering  the  extreme  obscurity  of  our  ideas 
upon  this  infinite  subject,  their  error,  acknowledging  as  they 
do,  the  Deity  of  our  Saviour,  cannot  be  regarded  as  one  that 
deeply  affects  the  system  of  our  holy  religion.  The  Tri° 
theists,  conceiving  that  they  would  do  greater  honor  to  the 
respective  persons  of  the  Trinity,  by  adopting  a  contrary 
opinion,  have  assigned  to  each  a  separate,  equal,  and  inde- 
pendent existence,  making  their  union  in  one  Supreme  God- 
head consist,  not  in  any  natural  and  necessary  participation 
of  the  same  essence,  but  in  a  perfect  concurrence  of  will, 
and  co-operation  of  action  in  all  their  designs. — The  Arians, 
on  the  other  hand,  borrowing  their  title  from  the  celebrated 
presbyter  of  Alexandria,  maintain  that  Christ  is  not  proper- 
ly God,  but  only  the  first  and  highest  of  all  creatures,  who 
has  been  taken  into  the  most  intimate  union  with  the  Deity, 
that  he  might  thereby  become  the  Saviour  of  the  world ; 
conjoining  the  merit  arising  from  the  grandeur  of  this  divine 
relation,  with  that  of  the  obedient  and  suffering  condition  of 
human  nature  in  him.  Out  of  these  another  class  has  arisen, 
who  most  nearly  approach  the  orthodox  principle,  making 
Christ,  not  properly  a  creature,  nor  in  the  high  and  indepen- 
dent sense  of  the  Father,  God.  The  most  noted  of  the  mo- 
dern Arians  appear  to  have  adopted  the  ideas  of  the  celebrat- 
ed Samuel  Clark,  who  stands  among  the  first  metaphysicians 
of  any  age,  that  the  Filial  is  an  eternal,  and  necessary  ema- 


228 

nation  from  the  Paternal  Deity ;  which  may  be  illustrated, 
if  such  an  infinite  subject  be  capable  of  any  illustration  from 
created  nature,  by  the  procession  of  light  from  the  body  of 
the  sun,  coexistent,  and  of  the  same  essence  with  the  body 
from  which  it  proceeds ;  yet,  being  derived,  though  a  ne- 
cessary eflfect  from  a  necessary  cause,  it  is  to  be  regarded 
as  dependent.  Such  does  this  great  man  suppose  to  be  the 
dependence  of  the  Son  upon  the  Father. — Opposed  to  all 
these  forms  of  trinitarian  existence  are  the  Pelagians  or  Soci- 
nians,  who,  notwithstanding  their  rejection  of  the  fundamen- 
tal principle  of  the  atonement,  and  its  related  doctrines,  still 
claim  the  title  of  christians,  because  they  embraced  the  mo- 
ral code  of  Jesus  Christ.  Their  distinguishing  tenet  is,  that 
Christ  is  simply  a  man,  and  in  no  other  way  connected  with 
the  Supreme  Deity,  than  as  being  inspired  by  him,  and  sent 
by  him  into  the  world  to  be  the  chief  of  the  prophets  and  in- 
structors of  mankind. — This  sect  is  hardly  entitled  to  the 
honor  of  the  name  which  they  assume. 

On  this  great  and  essential  doctrine  of  Christianity,  the 
opinions  which  have  now  been  briefly  stated  are  the  chief 
which  deserve  to  be  mentioned,  exclusive  of  that  which  only 
we  conceive  to  be  warranted  by  a  just  interpretation  of  the 
holy  scriptures.  This  presents  to  the  mind  the  Father,  the 
Bon,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  being  equal  in  power  and  glory  ; 
—"•equally  necessary  and  independent  in  their  existence  ; — 
perfectly  one  in  their  essence,  but  different  in  personality  ;-" 


229 

The  objects  of  equal,  and  undivided  worship.  In  the  economy 
of  human  redemption,  however,  the  Paternal  Deity,  is  to  be 
considered  as  actually  exercising  the  rights  of  divine  authority. 
— The  Filial  Deity  as  being  the  immediate  minister  of  the 
divine  mercy  by  his  atonement  and  intercession ; — and  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  applying  the  revelation  of  the  divine  mercy 
for  the  sanctification  of  the  heart,  and  qualifying  the  disci- 
ples of  the  faith,  by  his  gracious  influence  for  the  pos- 
session and  enjoyment  of  eternal  life.  In  all  acts  of  wor- 
ship  it  is  the  principle  of  Christianity,  that  we  address  the 
Father,  through  the  iSon,  by  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

PROOF    OF    THE    TRINITV. 

Having  stated,  as  conscisely  and  distinctly  as  posssiblcj 
the  christain  principle  upon  this  subject,  I  proceed  to  estab- 
lish the  evidence  of  the  doctrine  solely  from  the  sacred  scrip- 
tures. And,  being,  by  every  party,  acknowledged  to  be  a 
doctrine  purely  of  revelation,  I  reject  every  modification  of 
human  reason  on  a  subject  on  which  reason  is  utterly  incom- 
petent to  judge,  and  could,  therefore,  only  mislead.  I  equal- 
ly reject  from  this  demonstration,  every  part  of  the  sacred 
text  on  which  any  doubt  can  be  raised  of  the  genuineness  of 
the  copy,  the  scriptures  being  full  and  abundant  on  the  sub- 
ject, after  every  deduction  that  the  most  scrupulous  enemy 
can  require.  And  this  concession  is  made,  not  from  any 
hesitancy  which  can  justly  be  entertained  concerning  the  au- 


230 

thenticity  oi  those  few  disputed  passages,  which  have  beeni 
selected  for  objection,  outof  our  commonly  acknowledged  ver- 
sion, but  that,  in  an  elementary  treatise  intended  for  the 
youngest  divines  and  for  the  comfort,  instruction,  and  estab- 
lishment of  the  common  christian,  no  proof  may  be  presented 
to  them  but  what  shall  be  seen  to  rest  only  on  the  most  se- 
cure foundation. 

These  proofs  may  be  arranged  into  such  as  are  general, 
relating  equally  to  the  whole  Godhead,  and  such  as  are  par- 
ticular, establishing  the  Deity  of  eacK'person.  The  former 
are  presented  to  us  in  the  forms  of  baptism,  and  of  benedic- 
tion, both  which  are  administered  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  shew  us  that  the  object  of 
worship,  and  of  trust  to  the  whole  church,  can  be  perfectly 
exhibited  to  our  faith,  only  under  these  three  united  titles. 
And  they  are  so  united  that  equal  power,  honor,  blessing, 
and  homage  is  ascribed  to  each.  To  that  Divine  Trinity 
equally  we  are  consecrated  on  our  entrance  into  the  church  ; 
from  that  Trinity  equally  all  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  de- 
scend to  the  faithful. 

In  examining  the  divinity  of  the  respective  persons  of  the 
Godhead,  it  is  requisite  chiefly  to  attend  to  those  proofs  which 
establish  the  proper  Deity  of  the  Son  ;  for,  when  this  point 
is  once  admitted,  there  is  no  further  objection  to  the  full  ac- 
Iinowledgment   of  the   doctrine.     The  declaration  usually 


/ 


231 

quoted  from  Saint  Paul  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  epistle 
to  the  Philippians*  I  omit,  for  the  reasons  already  assigned, 
and  rely,  at  present,  on  two  positive  and  explicit  attestations 
contained  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  gospel  of  the  apostle 
John,  and  the  fifth  chapter  of  his  first  Epistle. — "  In  the  be- 
ginning was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the 
Word  was  God.— And  we  know  that  the  Son  of  God  is  come, 
and  hath  given  us  an  understanding,  that  we  may  know  him 
that  is  true,  and  we  are  in  him  that  is  true,  in  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ, — this  is  the  true  God,  and  eternal  life."  If  it  had 
been  the  purpose  of  our  Heavenly  Father  to  teach  this  doc- 
trine to  the  world  so  that  no  mistake  or  error  could  be  com- 
mitted with  respect  to  it,  we  cannot  easily  conceire  how  it 
could  be  taught  in  stronger,  and  more  explicit  language.  Con- 
vinced of  this,  as  one  would  think  that  every  man  of  candor 
and  fairness  must  be,  we  see  those,  who  deny  the  principles 
obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the  utmost  ingenuity,  and  even  so- 
phistry of  criticism  to  elude  the  force  of  the  evidence  which 
arises  from  the  obvious  construction  of  the  sacred  writings. 
If  these  terras  arc  explained  to  a  different  and  more  circuitous 
meaning,  all  certainty  h  taken  from  the  scriptures,  and  human 
ingenuity  may  equally  bend  thera  to  the  support  of  the  most 
opposite  opinions. 

This  argument  is,  in  no  small  degree,  confirmed  by  the 
frequent  and  pointed  references  made  by  the  apostles  to  the 

*  Phii.  2.  fi. 


233 

prophetic  and  mosaic  writings,  in  which  Christ  is  spoken  of  as 
the  Angel  of  the  covenant,  and  addressed  as  Jehovah  that  glo- 
rious being  to  whom  the  highest  characters  of  divinity  belong, 
and  for  whom  the  profoundest  worship  of  mankind  is  claim- 
ed. By  comparing  the  New  Testament  with  the  old,  it  be- 
comes evident  that  the  Son  was  God,  adored  by  the  patri- 
archs, and  the  Author  and  Subject  of  all  those  divine  ap- 
pearances exhibited  to  these  eminent  Saints  recorded  in  the 
ancient  scriptures.  It  sh-engthens  the  proof  already  pro- 
duced of  this  doctrine  being  always  acknowledged  by  the  he- 
brew  nation,  and  the  primitive  church,  from  the  begining  of 
the  world.  It  renders  probable  likewise  the  opinion  of  those 
great  men,  equally  conspicuous  for  learning  and  piety  who 
believe  that  this  world  was  created  principally  to  illustrate  the 
o-lory  of  God  in  the  redemption  of  man  ;  and  that  it  was,  for 
that  purpose,  from  the  beginning,  put  under  the  immediate 
dominion  and  administration  of  the  Son  of  God.  These 
ideas  must  forcibly  impress  the  pious  inquirer  who  candidly 
studies  the  sacred  writings,  and  compares  the  christian  era 
with  the  most  ancient  periods  of  the  Mosaic  economy.  The 
declaration  of  the  apostle  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  Acts  ; 
"  This  is  he  who  was  in  the  church  in  the  wilderness,  with 
the  angel  who  spoke  to  him  in  the  mount  Sina,  and  with  our 
fathers,"  most  evidently  refers  to  the  history  of  the  Exodus 
in  the  third  chapter.  And  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  appeared 
to  him  in  a  flame  of  fire  out  of  the  midst  of  a  bush,  and  he 
looked,  and  behold  the  bush  burned  with  fire  ;  and  the  bush 


233 

was  not  consumed.     And  Moses  said,  I  will  now  turn  aside 
and  see  this  great  sight,  why  the  bush  is  not  burnt      And 
when    the  Lord  saw  that   he  turned   aside  to  see,    God 
called  to  him  out  of  the  midst  of  the  bush,  and  said  Moses, 
Moses.     And  he  said,  here  am  I.     And  he  said  draw  not 
nigh  hither  :  put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet ;  for  the  place 
whereon  thou  standest  is  holy  ground.     Moreover,  he  said  I 
am  the  God  of  thy  father,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of 
Isaac  and  the  God  of  Jacob,"     Behold  then,  Jesus  Christ 
presiding  as  Jehovah  in  the  ancient  church,   and  acknowl- 
edged to  be  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob. — Many 
passages  contribute  to  shew  that    Christ  was  the  supreme 
Ruler  and  Guide  of  Israel  in  their  progress  through  the  wilder- 
ness to  the  land  of  promise.     And  for  the  perfect   Deity  of 
Jesus  Christ  acknowledged  in  both  branches  of  the  church, 
a  proof  more  precise  and  strong  can  hardly  be  adduced,  than 
that  of  the  apostle  in  the  beginning  of  his  epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, quoting  the  forty  fifth  Psalm,  where  the  prophet  un- 
der the  full  spirit  of  inspiration,  saith  of  the  Son,  thy  throne 
O  God  is  forever  and  ever,  a  sceptre  of  righteousness  is  the 
sceptre  of  thy  kingdom.     And  the  evangelist  John,   in  the 
twelfth  chapter  of  his  gospel,  applies  to  Christ  one  of  the  most 
sublime  descriptions  of  Jehovah  recorded  in  the  sacred  writ- 
ings ;  "  In  the  year  (hat  king  Uzziah  died,  I  saw  also  the  Lord 
sitting  on  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up,  above  it  stood  Ibe  Ser- 
aphim ;  each  one  had  six  wings ;  with  twain  he  covered  his 
feet,  with  twain  he  covered  his  face,  and  with  twain  he  did 


234 

Hj ;  and  one  cried  to  another  and  said ;  holy,  holy,  holy,  is 
the  Lord  of  hosts ;  the  whole  earth  is  full  of  his  glory.  Is.  6. 
1.  These  things,  adds  the  evangelist,  said  Esaias,  when 
he  saw  his  glory,  that  is,  the  glory  of  Christ,  of  whom  he 
was  at  that  time  writing,  and  spake  of  him. 

Another  proof,  perhaps  not  less  forcible,  of  the  Deity  of 
the  Son,  is  the  frequent  ascription  to  him  of  all  the  peculiar 
and  incommunicable  attributes  of  the  Godhead ;  eternity,  im- 
mutability, omniscience,  omnipresence,  and  creation. — "  And 
thou  Bethlehem  Ephratah  though  thou  be  little  among  the 
thousands  of  Judah,  yet,  out  of  thee  shall  he  come  forth  un- 
to me  that  is  to  be  ruler  in  Israel ;  whose  goings  forth  have 
been  of  old,  from  everlasting ;"  saith  the  very  explicit  pre- 
diction of  the  prophet  Micah.  Jesus  himself  declares, — 
**'before  Abraham  was,  I  am."  And  by  his  Spirit  he  an- 
nounces to  his  favourite  disciple  John, — "  I  am  Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  ending,  which  is,  which  was, 
and  which  is  to  come,  the  Almighty."  Listen  to  the  strong 
and  unequivocal  language  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews. — 
"  To  the  Son  he  saith,  thou  Lord  in  the  beginning  hast  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  earth,  and  the  heavens  are  the  work  of 
thy  hands ;  they  shall  perish,  but  thou  remainest ;  they  shall 
wax  old  as  doth  a  garment ;  but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy 
years  shall  not  fail."  The  same  author  in  the  following  sen- 
tence unites,  in  the  most  positive  terms,  the  eternity  and  im- 
mutability of  the  Saviour,  "  Jesus  Chiist  the  same  yester" 


235 

day,  to  day,  and  forever."  And  he  himself  testifies  his  own 
omnipresence,—"  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together 
in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them  Mat.  1 8.  And 
lo!  I  am  with  you  always  to  the  end  of  the  world  Mat.  28. 
I  add,  in  the  last  place,  that  all  divine  attributes  are  embraced 
in  the  work  of  creation,  which  is  explicitly  ascribed  to  the 
Son :  "  for  by  him,  all  things  were  created,  that  are  in  heav- 
en, and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether  they 
be  thrones,  or  dominions  or  principalities,  or  powers :  all 
things  were  created  by  him  and  for  him,  and  he  is  before  all 
things  ;  and  by  him  all  things  consist:  Col.  1.  16."  Crea- 
tion forms  the  supieme  relation  between  the  Creator  and  the 
creature.  It  is  the  true  foundation  of  worship,  and  consti- 
tutes exclusively  that  perfect  right  claimed  by  the  Eternal 
to  our  duty  and  obedience.  All  things  mere  made  by  himt 
saith  the  evangelist  John :  and  therefore  the  Fitiher  hath 
committed  all  judgment,  that  is,  the  entire  government  of 
this  world,  to  the  Son,  that  all  men  should  honor  the  Son, 
even  as  they  honor  the  Father. 

These  proofs,  although  consisting  of  a  very  small  number 
selected  out  of  the  great  mass  of  the  scriptures  proportioned 
to  the  brevity  which  I  contemplate,  aflford  ample  confirma- 
lion  of  the  true  and  proper  Deity  of  the  Son ;  and,  in  that, 
they  establish  beyond  reasonable  doubt  Ihe  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity.  No  small  degree  of  strength  arises  to  the  argument 
from  the  constrained  reasonings  by  which  its  enemies  study 


236 

to  combat  the  force  of  this  evidence.     Some  of  the  highest 

titles  of  divinity,  it  is  alleged,  are  not  bestowed  on  the  Sonj 

which  are  ascribed  to  the  Father,  such  as  the  Almighty j  the 

Most-Hi^h.     Can  any  objection  more  obviously  demonstrate 

the  weakness  of  the  cause  which  is  obliged  to  have  recourse 
to  such  evasions,  when  other  titles,  equally  characteristic  of 

the  divine  nature,  are,  with  greater  frequency,  applied  to 
him  ?  Besides,  a  part  of  those  titles  which  are  supposed  to 
be  exclusively  appropriated  to  the  Almighty  Father,  are, 
most  obviously,  used,  not  as  marking  any  superiority  of  na- 
ture, but,  along  with  others,  as  distinctive  characters  of  the 
different  persons  of  the  Trinity.  To  give  only  one  exam- 
ample  ;  There  is  one  God  the  FatheVf  of  whom  are  all 
things  J  and  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ  by  whom  are  all  things. 
Will  it  not  require  some  peculiar  depth  of  understanding  to 
assign  the  superiority  of  of  to  by,  and,  in  the  act  of  creation, 
to  say  which  is  expressive  of  the  greater  power,  or  the  great- 
ter  dignity  ? 

The  objectors  presume,  that  the  terms  expressive  of  the 
highest  powers  of  divinity  are  applied  to  Christ,  as  belong- 
ing to  him  only  in  an  inferior  degree.  And  presuming  in- 
deed it  is,  to  attempt  to  graduate  the  divine  perfections,  or 
his  creative  operations,  by  our  limited  standard.  What 
measure  have  the  scriptures  given  us  to  fix  the  import  of 
these  phrases  except  the  obvious  meaning  and  connexion  of 
the  terms  ?    What  gradations  can  be  fixed  in  the  powers  of 


237 

creation,  omnipotence,  and  omnipresence  ?  Such  objection* 
never  could  be  suggested  but  by  a  falacious  reason  which 
presumes  to  measure  the  divine  nature  by  its  own  narrow 
views;  and  under  the  powerful  influence  of  a  prejudice 
which,  having  fixed  its  philosophic  theological  system  inde- 
pendently of  that  sacred  regard  to  the  simple  dictates  of  the 
word  of  God  which  ought  to  govern  the  ideas  of  every  chris- 
tian, studies  to  bend  the  rule  of  faith  to  its  preconceived 
opinions. 

The  force  of  the  argument  derived  from  the  powers  of 
creation  ascribed  to  Christ  these  writers  think  to  weaken  by 
changing  in  some  instances  the  import  of  the  word  translated 
worlds.  By  whom  also,  saith  the  apostle  to  the  Hebrews, 
he  made  the  worlds ;  which  phraseology  they  render ;  hy 
whom  also  he  constituted  the  ages ;  meaning  the  different 
dispensations  of  the  church,  the  patriarchal,  the  mosaic,  and 
the  christian.  Little  advantage,  however,  can  be  gained  to 
their  cause  by  this  change,  when  the  full  import  of  the  terms 
is  fairly  considered.  Less  they  cannot  imply,  if  we  give 
them  any  meaning  worthy  the  solemnity  of  the  divine  oracles, 
than  that  the  whole  moral  order  of  the  universe  has  been 
originally  constitued,  and,  at  all  times,  arranged  and  govern- 
ed exclusively  by  the  providence  of  the  Son. — But  is  this 
less  the  property  of  divine  power,  or  the  work  of  divine  wis- 
dom than  is  the  physical  constitution  and  order  of  the  uni- 
verse ? — The  most  ingenious  evasions,  therefore  or  colour- 


23S 

mgs  of  the  strong  language  of  scripture,  leave  entire  the  evi- 
dence of  the  full  and  perfect  Godhead  of  the  Son. 

The  particular  proofs  of  the  Deity  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in 
the  next  place,  demand  our  attention ;  in  which  it  is  necessa- 
ry, first,  to  establish  his  distinct  personality,  and  that  he  is 
Bot  merely  spoken  of  as  a  quality,  expressive  of  the  holiness 
erf"  the  divine  nature.  The  import  of  the  word  spirit ,  is  un- 
derstood as  far  as  the  term  can  be  explained,  only  by  the  ac. 
tkin  of  our  own  minds.  What  is  most  obscure  and  diflScult 
ill  our  conceptions,  when  we  attempt  to  apply  it  to  the  Eter- 
ml  Spirit,  arises  from  the  infinity  of  the  subject.  Here  we 
must  rest  contented  and  submissive  from  the  consciousness 
of  our  own  imperfection.  But  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  spoken 
of  as  a  distinct  person,  no  less  than  the  Father,  and  the  Son, 
is  evident  from  the  forms  of  benediction  and  of  baptism,  as 
well  as  from  other  passages  in  which  the  expression  admits  of 
iio  ambiguity. — "  I  will  pray  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give 
you  another  Comforter,  that  may  abide  with  you  forever ; 
even  the  Spirit  of  truth.  When  he  the  Spirit  of  truth  is 
come,  he  shall  guide  you  into  all  truth,  John  15.  ch.  16.  do. 
There  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit,  1  Cor.  12. 

When  the  personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  established 
little  is  requisite  for  the  proof  of  his  Deity.  The  evidence 
of  the  one  is  involved  in  that  of  the  other.  We  see,  in  the 
feoly  scriptures,  the  same  divine  attributes  ascribed  to  hip  as 


239 

to  the  other  persons  of  the  everblessed  Trinity.     We  have, 
indeed,  no  further  controversy  on  this  important  doctrine. 

No  question  now  remains,  which  merits,  in  any  degree, 
the  attention  of  the  student  of  theology,  except  that  which, 
for  a  long  time,  imprudently  agitated  the  eastern,  and  the 
western  christians,  concerning  the  procession  of  the  Son  and 
Holy  Spirit,  and  that  chiefly  as  a  subject  of  history.  A 
question  on  this  high  and  inscrutable  doctrine  it  is  which  is 
impossible  to  be  clearly  and  intelligibly  decided ;  nor  do  we 
perceive  any  important  moral  consequence  that  could  result 
from  the  decision.  The  Greek  church  maintained  that  both 
the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost  proceed  from  the  Father  only. 
The  Latin  church  contended  that  the  Son  proceeds  from 
the  Father,  but  the  Holy  Spirit  equally  from  the  Father  and 
the  Son. — On  a  controversy  of  this  nature  we  ought  to  speak 
with  extreme  reserve,  and  to  assert  with  positiveness  noth- 
ing  but  what  is  clearly  warranted  by  the  scriptures  them- 
selves ;  permitting  no  modification  of  the  language  or  ideas 
to  our  own  fancy.  When  we  listen  solely  to  the  sacred  wri- 
ters  the  evangelist  John  declares  that  the  Spirit  proceedeik 
from  the  Father  ;^^  but  he  is  also  called  by  the  aposlle  Paul, 
writing  to  the  Romans^  and  other  churches,  the  Spirit  of  the 
Son.-^  When  we  would  conceive,  or  explain  this  doctrine 
farther  than  the  strict  terms  of  revelation  import,  the  mind 

*  John  15.  26.        t  Romans  8    9    Ga!.  U.  6.  Phil,  1,  JP, 


240 

19  immediately  lost  in  an  attempt  entirely  beyond  the  powers 
of  the  human  intellect.  And  although  the  terms  of  scrip- 
ture, and  the  opinion  of  the  highest  christian  antiquity  ap- 
pear to  favour  the  doctrine  of  the  Roman  church,  yet  the 
violence  of  the  disputes  which  appear,  in  the  progress  of  this 
controversy,  between  them,  and  their  grecian  brethren  is  a 
deep  reproach  to  both  parties. 


OF    THE 


DECREES  OF  GOD. 


OF  THE 

DECREES  OF  GOD. 


Having  treated  of  the  being  of  God,  and  of  that  idea  ot 
the  divine  nature  and  perfection  presented  to  us  in  Holy 
Scripture,  the  subject  which  next  occurs  to  our  considera- 
tion is  his  immediate  agency  and  control  over  all  the  works 
of  his  hand,  usually  styled,  in  our  theological  systems,  his 
Decrees.  By  this  term  is  intended  the  sovereign  and  holy 
will  of  God  concerning  all  things  that  exist,  not  only  in  their 
being,  but  in  all  their  changes  and  actions  from  the  greatest 
to  the  most  thinute.  They  embrace  the  entire  system  of  the 
universe,  both  physical,  and  moral,  corporeal  and  spiritual, 
and,  in  the  language  of  philosophy,  constitute  the  universal 
laws  both  of  matter  and  of  mind  ;  which  are  so  ordained,  in 
their  original  structure,  as,  by  their  natural  operation,  to  at- 
tain every  purpose  of  the  all-wise  Creator.  But  divines,  with 
justice,  perhaps,  entertaining  a  suspicion  of  the  language  of 
philosophy,  as  if  it  kept  the  immediate  agency  of  God  too 
much  out  of  view,  by  interposing  the  natural  law  between 
him  and  the  event,  and  willing  to  present  him  always  to  the 
mind,  in  all  the  changes  of  the'  universe,  have  chosen  to  em- 
ploy the  terms  ordination,  and  predestination  as  exhibiting 


244 

the  ullimate  cause  of  whatever  takes  place  in  heaven  or  on 
earth.  No  event  can  happen  bnt  in  consequence  of  the  laws 
which  he  has  cstabHshed,  and  CBtablished  with  a  full, 
immediate  and  present  view  of  ererj  result  which  should 
spring  from  them.  And  as  the  whole  creation  was,  at  all 
limes,  present  before  him,  from  the  beginning,  and  nothing, 
strictly  speaking,  can  be  considered  as  either  past,  or  to 
come  in  the  view  of  omniscience,  his  preordination  or  decree 
is  justly  regarded  as  embracing  every  event,  and  all  events 
are  seen  as  being  immediately  obvious  to  his  view,  and  aris- 
ing naturally  out  of  the  train  of  causes  which  he  has  ordained. 

This  term,  as  it  has  been  adopted  by  theologians,  is 
merely  technical,  and  has  an  appropriate  meaning,  being  us- 
ed to  signify  the  divine  purposes  with  respect  to  the  whole 
order  of  nature,  but  chiefly  with  respect  to  the  moral  states 
and  destinies  of  mankind.  It  is  evidently  borrowed  from  an 
analogy  supposed  to  exist  between  the  divine  and  human  go- 
vernments, and  is  consequently  employed  to  express  the 
will  of  Almigkli/  God  as  the  supreme  legislator  and  gover- 
nor of  the  universe. 

Few  words,  in  the  Old  Testament,  have  been  translated 
by  this  term,  and,  in  every  place  where  they  are  employed 
they  might,  with  equal  propriety,  have  been  rendered  by 
the  terms  statute,  law,  or  purpose.  In  the  version  of  the 
New  Testament  it  is  no  where  found,  although  the  equiva- 


24/i 

lent  expressions  counsel,  purpose,  foreknowledge,  predesU^ 
nation,  frequently  occur ;  which  language,  especially  when 
it  relates  to  the  moral  states,  and  conditions  of  men,  evidently 
imply  all  that  is  intended  by  decree,  as  it  has  been  introdnr 
ed  into  the  systems  of  theology. 

I'o  many,  who  appear  not  to  have  justly  reflected  on  the 
subject,  this  term  carries  in  it  somewhat  gloomy  and  austere, 
as  implying  that  all  the  actions,  and  the  final  states  of  man- 
kind have  been  fixed  by  an  arbitrary  will,  and  that  their 
whole  moral  government  turns  on  principles  of  necessity, 
equally  with  those  which  govern  the  material  world.  But 
when  we  identify  his  decrees  with  the  laws  of  universal  be- 
ing, producing  their  effects,  with  certainty,  indeed,  but 
freely  or  necessarily,  according  to  the  nature  of  each  subject, 
this  apparent  harshness  ceases  to  exist.  No  reasonable  doubt 
can  be  entertained  by  any  reflecting  man,  but  that  all  things, 
from  the  beginning  have  been  determined  by  the  Creator  in 
a  certain  order,  which  order  must  arise  out  of  the  laws  of 
their  respective  natures,  and  the  combinations  of  each  sub- 
ject  with  all  other  things.  And  these  all  having  been  fram- 
ed by  their  glorious  Author  with  the  most  perfect  foresight, 
their  infinitely  various  results  must  have  been  present  to  his 
all  comprehensive  view.  On  the  most  obvious  principles  of 
reason,  therefore,  the  divine  foreknowledge  of  events,  must 
have  been  founded  on  the  divine  will  in  framing  the  universal 
structure  of  things,  and  impressing  upon  them  respectively 


246 

the  laws  of  tlieir  action.  The  results  being,  iu  consequence, 
perfectly  foreknown,  the  wliole  must  have  been  conceived 
in  one  consecutive  and  consistent  plan  according  to  the  de- 
signs of  his  wisdom  ;  physical  events  arising  out  of  the  ne- 
cessary laws  of  matter  and  motion,  and  moral  consequences 
springing  from  the  free  laws  of  motive  and  volition. 

These  consequences  so  clearly  deduced  from  the  princi- 
ples of  reason,  are  conformable  to  the  whole  strain  of  the  sa- 
cred writings,  in  which  is  asserted,  in  the  most  explicit  and 
nnequivocal  terras,  the  universal  preordination  of  events, 
however  minutely  they  descend  to  the  most  trivial 
events,  or  however  strongly  they  imply  the  merit,  or  the 
guilt  of  individual  acts.  Let  me  appeal  to  a  single  exam- 
ple which  may  be  in  the  room  of  many.  Hinif  saith  the 
apostle  speaking  of  Christ,  being  delivered  by  the  deter- 
ininate  counsel^  and  foreknowledge  of  God,  ye  have  taken^ 
and  by  nicked  hands,  have  crucified  aiid  slain.  When  we 
assign  io  this  declaration  of  the  sacred  writer  its  full  extent ; 
could  the  determination  of  this  great  event  take  place,  with- 
out involving  in  it  the  predetermination  of  all  the  acts  by 
which  it  was  gradually,  prepared,  and  finally  accomplished  ? 
Yet,  was  not  every  purpose  so  connected  with  the  nature  of 
man,  and  the  freedom  of  human  action,  that,  in  this  impious 
deed,  though  predetermined,  the  agents  were  justly  subject 
to  the  righteous  condemnation  of  Heaven.  But  it  were  un- 
necessary, I  presume,  to  refer  you  singly  to  the  multiplied 


2ir 

evidences  of  this  triith  which  speak  in  every  page  of  the  holy 
Scriptures.  Of  those  who  sincerely  love  God  the  apostle 
speaks  as  being  "  called  according  to  his  purpose ;  for  whom 
he  did  foreknow  he  also  did  predestinate  to  be  conformed  to 
the  image  of  his  Son."  And  the  whole  of  this  ninth  chap- 
ter of  his  epistle  to  the  Romans  appears  to  have  been  writ- 
ten with  the  most  palpable  intention  to  remove  all  ambiguity 
from  this  subject.  Suffer  me  to  quote  only  the  eleventh 
verse:  "The  children,  being  not  yet  born,  neither  having 
done  any  good,  or  evil,  that  the  purpose  of  God,  according 
to  election,  might  stand,  not  of  works,  but  of  him  that  call- 
elh,  it  was  said,  the  greater  shall  serve  the  younger ;  as  it 
is  written,  Jacob  have  I  loved,  but  Esau  have  I  hated," 

Can  words  proclaim,  with  more  decisive  evidence,  the 
preordination  of  events,  and  of  those  events  particularly.  I 
mean  the  moral  states  of  mankind,  which  have  given  rise  to 
the  most  formidable  objections  to  the  truth  on  this  interesting 
question.  Attend  to  the  pointed  language  of  the  sacred  wri- 
ter— the  election  of  one  to  honor  is  not  made  oh  any  antece- 
dent view  of  his  good  works  ;  for  it  is  not  of  works,  but  of 
him  that  calleth,  founded  only  on  reasons  in  his  own  infinite 
and  inscrutable  wisdopj.  Not  that  any  one  is  chosen  with- 
out, or  wholly  independent  of  his  good  works,  but  his  works 
are  themselves  the  object  of  the  decree,  and  arc  embraced 
in  the  same  act,  and  with  the  election  of  the  believer ;  and  this 
crithont  the  smallest  infringempnt  on  the  perfect  freedoai  of 


248 

the  individual  agent.  For  as  has  before  been  observed,  the 
laws  of  the  moral  world  have  been  so  framed  as,  by  their  na- 
tural and  free  development,  to  attain  all  the  purposes  of  the 
divine  wisdom,  in  full  consistency  with  human  liberty,  with 
as  great  certainty  as  can  arise  from  the  laws  of  the  physical 
creation. 

It  is  in  vain  to  attempt  lo  evade  the  force  of  this  conclusion, 
by  the  hypothesis,  that  the  election  or  reprobation  of  Jacob 
or  of  Esau,  regarded  only  the  national  interests  and  preroga- 
tives of  the  people  respectively  descended  from  these  patri- 
archs. For  in  the  election  of  a  nation  to  temporal,  or  to  spi^ 
ritual  privileges,  are  there  not  innumerable  moral  results  inti'- 
mately  involved  in  the  act?  In  the  preference  given  to  Ja- 
cob, was  it  not  the  election  of  the  whole  ancient  church  to 
mercies,  privileges,  graces,  resting  only  in  the  gift  of  Heav- 
en, with  all  the  sanctifying  consequences  growing  out  of  them 
to  great  numbers  in  that  chosen  nation  '• 

If  then  the  preordination  of  events  is  established  by  the 
clearest  decisions  of  the  holy  scriptures,  as  it  has  already 
been  shewn  to  be,  by  the  plainest  conclusions  of  reason,  and 
in  that  point  which  has  been  thought  to  form  the  principal  ob- 
jection against  the  doctrine,  we  see,  in  this  consequence,  one 
of  the  strongest  arguments  for  the  universality  of  the  divine 
decrees^ 


249 

The  conclusion,  however,  has  been  opposed  by  some  spe^ 
cious  reasonings,  an  explicit  ansvier  to  which  will  seive  to 
add  strength  to  the  general  argument.  They  arise  chiefly 
from  moral  considerations.  For  the  government  of  the  na- 
tural world  is  resigned  by  these  writers,  without  controver- 
sy, to  the  dominion  of  fixed,  necessary,  and  immulaJjle  laws. 
The  doctrine  of  preordination,  they  affirm,  stands  in  direct 
contradiction  to  the  moral  liberty  of  man ;  and  to  the  essen- 
tial benignity  of  the  divine  nature.-^Of  each  let  us  take  a 
very  brief  review. 

The  former  inferences  evidently  springs  out  of  those  false 
metaphysics  which  confound  the  voluntary  and  moral  action 
of  the  mind,  with  the  physical  and  mechanical  laws  of  body. 
A  confusion  which  has  been  greatly  promoted  by  the  com- 
mon error  of  recurring,  in  all  our  reasonings  concerning  the 
one,  to  analogies  and  illustrations  borrowed  from  the  other; 
as  if  the  suasion  of  motive  bore  a  perfect  analogy  to  the  im- 
pulsive force  of  matter,  which  is  always  followed  by  a  ne- 
cessary effect,  that  can  be  calculated  with  mathematical  pre- 
cision, when  the  acting  force  is  known,  and  the  direction 
given  in  which  it  is  impressed.  For  the  influence  of  motive, 
on  the  other  hand,  no  sure  and  general  measure  can  be  form- 
ed, its  power  of  excitement  depending  on  the  nature  of  the 
motive  as  relative  to  the  character  and  temperament  of  the 
individual,  varied  as  it  may  be  by  education,  custom,  the 

influence  of  general  opinion,  and  innumerable  circumstances 

32 


350 

which  ate  reducible  to  no  certain  rule.  Where  neceasitj 
acts  there  is  no  room  for  deliberation  and  choice ;  but  where 
the  influence  of  suasion  only  operates,  addressed  to  the  mo- 
ral principles  of  our  nature,  we  are  conscious  of  a  power  with* 
in  ourselves  of  voluntarily  comparing  and  ballancing  motives, 
and,  according  to  our  pleasure,  yielding  to  one,  or  another. 

If  we  attend  to  the  operations  of  our  own  minds,  uninflu- 
enced by  any  theory,  we  perceive  a  total  difference  in  their 
nature  and  action  respectively,  between  matter  and  mind. 
In  the  moral  actions  of  the  latter,  especially,  except  when 
under  the  control  of  some  pernicious  habit,  which  has  become 
inveterately  fixed,  we  are  conscious  of  perfect  liberty.  A 
sensation  which  may  be  clearly  understood  by  every  person 
who  distinctly  reflects  upon  himself,  and  analysis  the  ac- 
tions of  his  mind,  but  is  difficult  to  be  defined  on  account  of 
the  simplicity  of  the  ideas.  And  on  these  subjects,  let  it 
be  borne  in  mind,  our  own  sensations  form  the  only  proper 
tests  of  troth  and  nature. 

In  the  strongest  excitement  to  act,  for  example,  we  are 
sensible  of  the  power  of  resistance,  and  of  being  able,  at  any 
moment,  to  arrest  the  action,  though  not  always,  and  imme- 
diately of  a  power  to  act  in  a  contrary  direction ;  for  this 
may  depend  on  education,  and  the  moral  and  religious  culti- 
vation of  the  mind.  This  liberty  hi  acting,  however,  such 
are  the  laws  of  the  spiritual  world,  is  perfectly  consistent 


251 

with  the  most  absolute  certainty  in  the  event,  which,  indeed, 
is  the  only  foundation  of  foreknowledge  in  God  himself. 
And  in  the  Divine  Mind,  foreknowledge  and  preordination 
are  the  same ;  for  it  rests  on  the  certain  laws  which  he  has 
ordained  for  all  being,  in  both  the  great  departments  of  the 
universe.     Therefore,  are  they  often  promiscuously  used  in 
the  sacred  scriptures.     To  illustrate  these  reflections  by  an 
humble  example  drawn  from  our  own  experience.     Even 
with  our  imperfect  knowledge  of  mankind,  and  of  the  usual 
relations  which  subsist  between  motive  and  conduct,  how.  of- 
ten can  we  predict  with  assurance  the  tenor  of  a  man's  ac- 
tions, in  given  circumstances,  and  frame  upon  them  our  own 
plans,  without  any  hazard  of  mistake  ?    How  often  may  a  pa- 
rent who  has  long  observed  the  influence  of  his  instructions 
upon  a  child,  predict,  with  the  utmost  assurance,  at  ihe  same 
time,  without  the  smallest  apprehension  of  the  existence  of 
any  necessary  influence  in  the  case,  the  act  of  his  son  in  any 
definite  situation  ?    If  the  human  intellect  can  proceed  with 
safety  thus  far,  cannot  the  all-creating  and  omniscient  Power, 
who  is  fully  possessed  of  the  characters,  temperament,  incli- 
nations, habitudes,  and  the  ten  thousand  minute  views  and 
interests  which  go  to  influence  th«  actions  of  individuals, 
foreknow,  and,  therefore,  if  he  please  ordaiji  and  decree  the 
part  which  each  shall  bear  in  the  most  coR^plicated  moral 
system,  and  in  the  whole  drama  of  life,  without  the  smallest 
infringement  on  the  liberty  of  tlie  mind  in  her  volitions  ? 


252 

The  philosophers  and  divines  of  the  necessarian  schoo!, 
who  confound  moral  with  physical  action,  see  infinite  diffi- 
culties in  reconciling  the  certain  influence  of  motive  with  the 
freedom  of  volition :  on  the  other  hand,  they  find  equal  dif- 
ficulty in  conceiving  the  certainty  of  events,  if,  at  the  same 
time,  those  events  are  to  depend  on  the  will  of  free  agents. 
Embarrassed  by  the  contending  difficulties,  they  have  de- 
termined, against  all  experience,  to  maintain  that  moral  caus- 
es act  with  the  same  kind  of  absolute  and  irresistible  necessi- 
ty as  physical.  Many  writers  have  erred  as  far  on  the  op- 
posite extreme ;  and,  for  the  sake  of  preserving  the  liberty 
of  man,  have  thought  it  requisite  utterly  to  deny  the  certain" 
ty  of  events,  depending,  in  any  degree,  on  the  purposes  of 
fret  minds.  Freedom,  in  their  opinion,  implies  absolute 
contingency  in  its  effects.  Theologians,  as  well  as  philoso- 
phers of  this  class,  are  absurd  enough  to  deny  prescience,  as 
well  as  preordination.  The  connexion  of  motive  with  cer- 
tainty, so  as,  on  the  one  hand,  to  exclude  necessity,  and,  on 
the  other,  contingency,  is  a  subject  of  feeling.  And,  to  a 
man  who  is  capable  of  observing  the  motions  of  his  own 
mind,  the  perceptions  which  this  feeling  affi)rds  are  as  clear 
as  any  principles  of  science.  Science  rests  on  no  other 
foundation,  for  its  axioms,  than  internal  feeling  or  sensation  ; 
which  are  therefore  justly  denominated  Its  first  truths. 

On  this  subject  we  distinctly  perceive  the  following  factsj 
^hat  motives,  according  to  the  infinite  diversities  of  human 


253 

character,  pesseas  a  perceptible  influence  on  action — that  this 
inflyence,  in  most  instances  at  least,  is  not  irresistible  ;  but 
that,  in  acting,  vre  are  perfectly  free ;  and  this  sensation  is 
not  a  delusive  feeling,  but  carries  with  it  complete  conviction 
of  its  truth,  which  ought  never  to  be  overthrown  by  any 
hypothetical  speculation.  Yet  such  connexion  between  mo- 
tives and  actions  exists,  according  to  the  states  and  charac^ 
ters  of  men,  that,  where  these,  in  all  their  relations  and  cir- 
cumstances are  completely  known,  certainty  accompanies 
moral  as  well  as  natural  causes  and  effects.  By  the  Al- 
mighty and  Omniscient  Creator,  then,  all  the  thoughts  and 
purposes  of  mankind,  all  the  circumstances  and  motives 
which  can  in  any  way  influence  their  actions,  were,  from 
eternity  most  distinctly  known.  Yet  his  foreknowledge 
does,  in  no  way,  necessitate  the  events  connected  with  itj 
although  it  proves  his  preordination ;  that  is,  their  certain  ex- 
istence, according  to,  and  resulting  from  the  order  of  nature^ 
whether  physical  or  moral,  established  by  him. 

That  the  moral  liberty  of  man  and  the  preordination  of 
God,  do  not  militate  against  one  another,  is  susceptible  of 
demonstration  even  on  the  principles  of  those  who  most 
strenuously  oppose  our  doctrine.  Let  us  suppose,  for  the 
■ake  of  the  argument,  the  present  state  of  human  nature  to  be 
a  state  of  moral  liberty,  as  perfect  as  the  greatest  enemies  of 
divine  preordination  can  imagine ;  suppose  that  there  is  no 
preordination  in  the  system  of  the  universe,  but  that  all  thingB 


254 

iiappen  without  any  purpose,  on  the  part  of  the  C^rea^tor^ 
yet  must  these  philosophers  confess  that  thej  take  place  in  a 
certain  train  of  causes  and  effects ;  or  if,  with  Mr.  Hume, 
they  expunge  from  the  vocabulary  of  nature  the  name  of 
cause,  and  only  say  that  all  things  happen  in  a  certain  de- 
terminate concatenation  of  preceding  and  consequent  events ; 
suppose,  further,  this  train  of  causes,  or  succession  of  events, 
accompanied  with  the  existing  state  of  virtue  and  of  vice, 
and  that  it  could  by  any  means  be  foreseen  by  the  Infinite 
Mind,  then  merely  creating  those  powers  of  nature,  and  es- 
tablishing those  relations  of  things,  which  in  their  ordinary 
course,  and  by  their  mutual  action,  should  produce  precisely 
the  same  moral  condition  of  the  world,  ought  not  to  be  con- 
sidered as  subjecting  the  whole  to  the  laws  of  mechanical 
necessity.  And,  I  add,  that  creating  them  with  design  that 
{his  natural  succession  should  take  place — that  effects,  just 
as  we  see  them  es^ist,  should  arise  out  of  the  established  or- 
der of  the  universe,  this  design,  and  this  order  would  not 
surely  constitute  a  system  of  fatality. 

If,  then,  freedom  of  moral  action  can,  by  any  possibility, 
ejust  in  the  rational  system — if  all  things,  even  the  Deity 
himself,  be  not  subjected  to  an  inflexible  fate,  it  has  been  ren- 
dered evident,  I  presume,  that  the  most  universal  preordi- 
nation may  be  consistent  with  the  most  complete  liberty  of 
the  mind  in  all  her  actions.  The  objection,  therefore,  which 
has  been  just  stated,  is  futile,  in  a  high  degree,  and  argues  an 


25S 

inconsiderate,  or  most  prejudiced  disregard  of  the  genuine 
structure,  and  operations  of  our  moral  nature. 

OP    MISERY   AND   VICE,    A3  OBJECTS  OF  THE  DIVINE  DE- 
CREES. 

The  existence  of  vice  and  misery  in  the  works  of  God, 
is  esteemed  by  those  who  deny  the  divine  preordination  of 
all  events,  to  form  an  insuperable  objection,  equally  with  the 
forfiier,  against  the  admission  of  the  doctrine,  involving,  ais 
they  conceive  it  does,  the  deepest  imputation  on  his  good- 
ness, and  his  holiness.  Small  reflection,  it  should  seem, 
would  be  requisite  to  demonstrate,  that  a  cavil  of  this  kind 
could  never  be  resorted  to,  where  the  subject  had  been  duly 
considered.  The  very  existence  of  these  evils  forms  an 
irrefutable  answer  to  the  objection ;  or  we  must  embrace  a 
principle  most  unworthy  the  divine  wisdom  and  power.  I 
have  no  hesitation  to  admit  that  their  existence,  by  whatever 
means  they  were  introduced,  or  for  whatever  end  they  were 
permitted,  entered  originally  into  the  designs  of  Heaven,  for 
the  administration  of  this  world.  Their  being  is  as  great  a 
mystery  to  reason  as  their  being  ordained.  To  say  that  they 
have  been  merely  iiermitted,  without  any  interference,  or 
concern  of  Almighty  God  in  the  actions  of  men,  is  only  at- 
tempting, by  the  illusion  of  a  word,  to  throw  the  difficulty 
out  of  sight,  not  to  solve  it.  If  he  has  permitted  the  intro- 
duction of  evil,  has  it  not  arisen  out  of  the  constitution  of  hi? 


256 

awn  work  ?  or,  in  other  words,  had  its  birth  in  those  verj 
laws  of  nature  which  he  has  established  in  the  universal  syg- 
tem  of  things  ?  Let  the  friends  of  this  phraseology  reconcile 
the  event  to  the  divine  perfections,  and  the  friends  of  the 
doctrine  of  universal  preordination  will  be  able,  on  the  same 
grounds,  to  demonstrate  the  consistency  of  these  perfections 
with  the  decree  by  which  sin  freely  exists,  through  the  per- 
verted will  of  the  creature,  and  its  punishment  necessarily 
follows.  That  this  may  be  accomplished  \i^ithout  any  in- 
fringement on  the  rational  liberty  of  the  mind,  our  own  expe- 
rience suflficiently  attests.  If  it  be  esteemed  more  difficult 
to  reconcile  the  misery  and  guilt  of  our  nature  with  the  be- 
nignant perfections  of  the  Deity,  this  difficulty  is  at  least 
equal  on  all  systems. 

In  examining  the  principles  of  Natural  Religion,  I  have  al- 
ready endeavoured  to  vindicate  the  goodness  of  God  in  the 
existence  of  the  manifold  evils  of  human  life,  either  as  cor- 
rectors of  its  errors,  and  assistants  towards  regaining  its  ori- 
ginal perfection,  or  laying  the  foundation,  ultimately  for  its 
social  and  intellectual  improvement  and  happiness.  Here- 
after, I  shall  contemplate  (hem  in  the  light  of  revelation,  and 
shew  how  the  infinite  benignity  and  wisdom  of  the  Eternal  is 
justified  and  illustrated  in  the  sacred  writings,  in  all  the  mise- 
ries which  have  overwhelmed  this  his  greatest  and  best  work. 


257 


OF  THE  OBJECTS,    THE    ORDER,    AND  THE  CHARACTERS  OF 
THE  DIVINE  DECREES. 

In  the  elucidation  of  the  general  subject  of  the  decrees, 
several  important  questions  have  been  offered  to  our  consid- 
eration by  theological  writers  of  different  sects,  which  merit 
our  attentive  reflection.  They  respect  chiefly,  the  objects 
of  the  decrees— the  order  in  which  they  have  been  arranged 
— the  characters  ascribed  to  them  in  the  holy  scriptures. 

1.  The  objects  of  the  decrees  and  purposes  of  God  our 
Creator  are  strictly  the  universe  of  things,  with  all  their  con- 
ditions, and  changes  ;  and  in  moral  agents,  particularly,  their 
thoughts,  affections,  and  their  whole  conduct ;  the  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages  of  their  situation,  their  virtues  and 
their  vices.  From  eternity,  these  were  all  in  the  purview  of 
the  Divine  Mind,  and,  in  time,  embraced  within  the  designs, 
and  subjected  to  the  order  of  his  providence,  which  is  only 
the  operation  of  the  Supreme  Creator  in  the  execution  of  hia 
eternal  purposes. 

2.  The  greater  part  of  those  writers  who  are  friendly  to 
the  system  of  decrees,  afraid,  at  the  same  time,  of  seeming  to 
detract  from  the  holiness  of  God,  have,  in  order  to  avoid  this 
impious  consequence,  thought  it  useful  to  conceive  of  the  di*- 

Ok* 


258 

vine  purposes  in  a  certain  order,  which  has,  therefore,  been 
styled  the  order  of  the  decrees.  Every  scheme,  however, 
for  arranging  them,  labours  under  the  same  essential  defect ; 
that  of  seeming  to  represent  a  succession  in  the  Divine  Mind, 
similar  to  what  must  necessarily  take  place  in  the  designs  and 
plans  of  men.  In  the  purposes  of  God  there  can  be  no  suc- 
cession. The  entire  system  of  nature,  with  all  its  changes, 
is  at  once  present  to  his  vieW^,  and  the  purpose  of  giving  them 
existence  is  one  act,  and  co-eternal  with  his  being.  He  sees 
the  end  in  the  means,  and  the  means  in  (he  end.  So  that 
any  order  applied  to  his  eternal  counsels  is  only  an  error  in 
our  own  conceptions.  An  order,  indeed,  must  be  observed 
in  their  execution.  And  this  perhaps  it  is,  which  has  been 
attempted  to  be  marked  in  this  expression  by  the  authors  of 
the  various  systems,  though  by  some  inaccuracy  of  language, 
transferred  to  the  decrees  themselves.  As  this  technical 
phraseology,  however,  has  been  adopted  by  many  eminent 
divines  of  different  sentiments,  and  modified  according  to 
their  respective  systems,  in  order  to  obviate,  or  evade  the 
difiBculties  arising  out  of  the  introduction  of  sin  into  the  works 
of  God,  I  shall  briefly  state  the  manner  in  which  the  subject 
has  been  attempted  to  be  explained,  by  the  three  principal 
sects  ;  the  Socinians,  the  Arminians,  and  the  Calvinists.  If 
we  should  not  perfectly  accord  with  any  one  of  these  great 
parties  in  religion,  and  utterly  reject  many  of  the  principles 
of  others,  still  it  is  useful  for  the  theological  student,  and  the 
judicious  christian,  to  be  iulormed  of  the  peculiar  tenets  of 


259 

each,  with  aa  much  precision  as  such  a  compendious  system 
will  admit. 

1.  The  followers  of  Socinus  deny  the  decrees  of  God  as 
they  imply,  ultimately,  any  eternal  purpose  of  illustrating  the 
glory  of  his  mercy,  or  his  justice,  in  the  salvation,  or  the  con- 
demnation of  men.  Their  general  principle  upon  this  sub- 
ject may  be  expressed  in  the  following  summary. — The  Su- 
preme Creator  decreeing,  from  the  beginning,  to  form  man  a 
moral  agent,  capable  equally  of  virtue,  or  of  vice,  determined 
to  commit  him  Bolely  to  the  direction  of  his  own  powers,  sub- 
ject only  to  those  rewards  of  virtue,  or  chastisements  of  vice, 
which  naturally  arise  out  of  the  regular  and  fixed  course  of 
divine  providence.  The  penalties,  or  remunerations,  of  the 
one  or  of  the  other,  are,  according  to  their  ideas,  those  only 
which  are  caused  by  the  wisdom,  or  folly,  the  discretion  or 
improvidence  of  men  themselves.  But  in  this,  and  in  all 
things  else,  the  ordination  and  immediate  agency  of  God  in 
giving  effect  to  his  own  laws  in  the  system  of  nature,  are,  in 
a  great  measure,  overlooked,  and  left,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
equally  out  of  their  scheme  of  doctrine,  and  the  miiids  of 
their  disciples. 

But  they  object,  especially,  against  considering  either  the 
fall  or  the  recovery  of  mankind,  as  forming  any  object  of  the 
divine  decrees,  farther  than  the  general  purpose  of  sending 
a  prophet  to  enlighten  and  instruct  the  world.     As  men, 


260 

however,  are  free  agents,  their  virtue,  or  their  vice,  their  pi- 
ous use,  or  their  unholy  rejection  of  his  revelation,  cannot 
properly  be  regarded,  even  as  subjects  of  foreknowledge,  and 
still  less  of  any  divine  decree.  The  general  purpose,  there- 
fore, of  the  Efernal,  to  punish  or  reward  them,  according  to 
their  deserts,  is  suspended  solely  on  the  actual  existence,  in 
time,  of  the  contingent  facts  which  constitute  their  merit,  or 
demerit.  This  system  appears  in  a  worse  form  in  many  of 
its  recent  disciples  than  it  did  in  the  founder  of  the  sect.  As 
it  has  been  embraced  by  a  great  portion  of  them,  it  can 
hardly  be  regarded  in  any  other  light  than  as  a  modified  the- 
ory of  Natural  Religion. 

2.  The  Arminians  admitting,  in  genera!  terms,  the  decrees 
of  God,  study  to  arrange  them  in  such  order  as  shall  be  most 
favourable  to  their  peculiar  system,  fixing  a  few  principal 
points  of  christian  doctrine,  but  omitting,  at  every  step  in 
their  progress,  some  portion  of  the  entire  chain  which  con- 
nects the  beginning  with  the  end.  The  outlines  of  their  the- 
ory may  be  traced  out  in  the  following  propositions. — God, 
in  his  wise  decrees,  originally  determined  to  create  man  in 
perfect  innocence,  but  fallible- — foreseeing  his  fall,  but  with- 
out any  regard  to  the  mode  of  its  accomplishment  in  their 
decree  or  to  that  train  of  seductions  which  led  to  the  fatal 
catastrophe. — The  next  object  of  the  decree,  was,  consider- 
ing man  as  fallen,  to  send  a  Saviour  into  the  world  as  the 
medium  of  his  restoration  and  recovery — for  this  purpose,  he 


261 

determined  to  impart  to  all  men  sufficient  grace,  if  properly 
improved,  to  bring  the  sinner  to  repentance,  and  to  assist 
the  penitent  to  fulfil  all  righteousness ;  but  without  clearly 
marking  the  distinction  between,  what  is  called  sufficient 
grace,  and  that  which  is  effectual ;  or  rather  making  no  dis- 
tinction  between  them,  except  the  superior  means,  and  op- 
portunities enjoyed  by  one  above  another — finally,  it  was 
decreed,  that  those  who  improve  their  means  and  opportuni- 
ties to  sincere  repentance,  shall  be  brought  to  eternal  salva- 
tion, whereas  those  who  wilfully  continue  in  their  sins,  shall 
be  consigned  to  just  perdition.  But  here  those  innumerable 
open,  or  secret,  and  often  indiscernable  causes  which  con- 
duce, in  different  minds,  to  sincere  repentance,  are  wholly 
left  out  of  the  purview  of  the  decree.  And  in  all  the  system 
of  these  good  men,  neither  the  fall  of  man,  nor  the  repent- 
ance of  any  of  his  posterity,  nor,  in  one  word,  any  act  of  a 
free  agent,  is  admitted  to  be  a  proper  object  of  divine  de- 
cree. 

Here  we  see  only  a  few  points  fixed  in  the  purposes  of 
Heaven;  and,  in  the  wide  intervals  between  them,  which 
•mbrace  the  greater  portion  of  human  life,  we  see  not  the 
actions  of  the  mind,  and  the  immense  circumference  of  mo- 
tives, occasions,  and  means  which  are  combined  for  the  pro- 
duction of  any  event,  and  particularly,  for  bringing  the  sin- 
ner to  repentance,  at  all  contemplated  in  the  decrees  of  God, 


262 

By  the  language  employed  by  the  writers  of  this  class  these 
causes  seem  to  be  thrown  entirely  without  the  control  of  hia 
providence. 

The  creation  of  man  in  innocence,  is  the  first  point  fixed 
in  this  system.  Afterwards  we  find  nothing  in  which  the 
state  of  human  nature,  and  the  general  plan  of  redemption  is 
concerned,  before  the  promise  of  the  Saviour.  The  Fally 
and  all  the  great  events  on  which  the  present  moral  condi- 
tion of  the  world  depends,  enter  not,  in  their  view,  for  any 
place  in  the  divine  counsels  ;  because  any  decree  on  those 
subjects,  would  involve  the  voluntary  actions  of  men. — Could 
then,  let  me  ask ;  could  the  loss  of  human  innocence,  and 
the  corruption  of  the  whole  human  race  be  an  event 
that  might,  or  might  not  have  come  to  pass,  having  no  founda- 
tion pf  certainty  in  the  constitution  of  things,  but  thrown  by 
the  principles  of  these  writers,  among  the  mass  of  doubtful 
actions,  or  the  caprices  of  accident  ?  Or  could  the  Om- 
Jilscient  have  foreseen  the  transgression  of  man,  without  the 
foreknowledge  of  all  the  means  which  led  to  the  unhappy 
event,  and  by  which  it  was  effected  ?  Could  those  means  have 
existed  by  chance  ?  or  have  they  not  arisen  in  the  natural 
operation  of  the  laws  established  by  God  himself  in  the  mor- 
al world  ?  And  must  not  all  these  events,  even  to  the  mi- 
nutest circumstances  attending  them,  have  been  in  the  pur- 
view of  the  Divine  Mind,  in  the  original  constitution  of  things? 


263 

And  what  further  can  be  intended  in  the  decrees  of  God,  bj 
the  warmest  friends  of  this  phraseology  ? 

Almighty  God,  in  sending  a  Saviour,  has  further  gra- 
ciously decreed,  according  to  their  system,  to  impart  to  all 
men  grace  sufficient,  if  wisely  improved,  for  all  the  purposes 
of  repentance  and  new  obedience ;  but  the  improvement  of 
that  grace,  they  add,  forms  no  object  of  the  decree,  but  is 
resigned  simply  and  entirely  to  the  will  of  man  himself. — 
But  these  principles  will  naturally  fall  to  be  more  particular- 
ly considered,  hereafter,  in  treating  of  the  Covenant  of 
Grace. 

3.  Calvinists,  on  this  subject,  are  thrown  into  two  great 
divisions  of  Supralapsarians,  and  Sublapsarians,  taking  their 
denominations  from  that  point  on  which  they  are  found  prin- 
cipally to  differ.  The  latter,  although  they  do  not  hesitate 
to  apply  the  decrees  of  God  universally  to  the  present  states 
and  actions  of  men,  whether  good,  or  bad,  yet,  like  the  Ar- 
minians,  study  to  exclude  the  Fall  from  the  counsels,  and 
purposes  of  Jehovah,  and  commence  their  decretal  system, 
only  after  man  has  already  become  mortal,  and  involved  in 
sin.  Before  that  period,  their  language,  at  least,  appears  to 
represent  the  Deity,  the  benignant  parent  of  the  universe,  in 
a  kind  of  inactive  state,  waiting  till  man  himself,  by  his  own 
independent  and  sinful  act,  fix  the  unhappy  destinies  of  his 
race.     The  cautious  timidity  with  which  these  writers  ap- 


264 

proach  this  subject,  betrays  their  secret  apprehension  that 
the  decrees  of  God,  to  which,  on  other  occasions,  they  free- 
ly appeal,  have,  in  the  production  of  sin,  some  sinister  influ- 
ence on  the  moral  liberty  of  man.  If  these  apprehensions 
were  well  founded,  they  ought  to  abandon  their  system  al- 
together. They  do  not  appear  to  reflect  that  the  freedom 
of  the  moral  agent  is  no  more  impaired  by  the  fall  of  the  sin- 
ner, than  by  the  regeneration  of  the  believer ;  which  last, 
however,  they  strenuously  maintain  to  be  an  object  of  divine 
decree.  The  one  is  descending  from  a  state  of  innocence, 
into  a  state  of  sin,  the  other  is  precisely  the  reverse,  return- 
ing from  sin  to  holiness.  The  latter  easily  comports  with 
their  general  theory ;  from  the  former  they  inconsistently 
shrink,  as  revolting  their  moral  feelings.  Their  view  of  the 
decrees  applies  to  mankind  only  since  the  Pall ;  and  is  confin- 
ed, almost  solely,  to  those  who  are  chosen,  out  of  the  mass 
of  the  human  race,  to  eternal  life  ;  the  rest  being  left  to  per- 
ish in  the  corruption  of  their  natural  state. — In  all  other  parts 
of  their  scheme  it  coincides  with  that  of  their  Supralapsa- 
rian  brethren. 

On  this  subject,  which  has  been  rfendered  difficult,  princi- 
pally by  an  unguarded,  and  perhaps  by  an  inadequately  de- 
fined use  of  the  term  decree  ;  for  it  is  merely  the  will  of  God 
operating  in  the  laws  of  nature  to  the  accomplishment  of  their 
proper  ends>  whether  in  the  natural  or  moral  world,  the  Su- 


265 

pralapsarians  hold,  at  least,  the  most  consistent  language.  In 
the  order  of  the  decrees,  they  argue  that  the  end  pro[»osed  to 
be  attained,  must,  as  in  every  wise  system,  have  had  the  pri- 
ority in  the  contemplation  of  its  author.  After  that,  the  means 
conducing  to  its  accomplishment  will,  with  propriety  follow. 
These  principles  may  appear  more  distinctly  in  the  outline 
of  this  scheme  which  is  exhibited  in  the  followin.  series  of 
propositions. — Almighty  God  having  purposed  in  the  econ- 
omy of  this  world,  to  illustrate  the  union  of  his  mercy,  and 
his  justice,  and  in  the  prosecution  of  this  end,  to  display  the 
glory  of  his  Son,  decreed  to  create  man  holy,  but  free — and 
in  the  progress  of  his  ultimate  design,  he  decreed  the  fall  of 
our  first  parents  ;  that  is,  that  the  state  in  Avhich  they  should 
be  placed,  and  the  whole  combination  of  motives  operating  on 
the  natural  principles  of  action,  should  most  freely  lea<l  to 
the  accomplishment  of  that  event,  so  distressing  in  itself,  but 
so  necessary  to  the  illustration  of  the  glory  of  his  grace— he 
decreed  in  consequence,  to  send  the  Saviour,  with  whom  he 
deposited  the  whole  economy  of  this  merciful  dispensation, 
placing  it  under  his  immediate  administration.     He  decreed,  'f; 

moreover,  the  salvation  of  a  chosen  number  of  the  human 
race,  preparing  those  means  which  would  certainly  lead,  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  the  fulfilment  of  his 
gracious  purpose  ;  leaving,  in  the  same  act,  those  who  should 
be  disobedient,  and  unholy,  to  the  guilt  and  infelicity  of  their 
natural  state.     The  intention  of  the  divines  who  employ  this 

language,  is  simply  to  assert  the  universal  agency  of  God,  in 

34 


both  the  moral  and  physical  systems  of  nature  ;  at  the  same 
time,  to  preserve  entire  the  freedom  of  the  human  miod,  and 
to  free  Almighty  God,  most  holy,  just,  and  good,  from  the 
Masphemous  imputation  of  being  the  author  of  sin. 

Are  not  the  universal  laws  of  nature  so  ordained  as  to  at- 
tain, by  their  natural  operation,  every  end  for  which  they 
were  evidently  designed  by  the  Creator  ?  It  is  the  inquiry 
of  a  Supralapsarian — Can  any  event  spring  into  existence 
but  in  exact  conformity  with  those  laws,  the  nature  and  the 
ends  of  which  have  been  designed  by  God  ?  Admitting  this 
conclusion,  what  are  denominated  his  decrees  can  be  nothing 
more  than  the  development  of  the  laws  of  nature  both  moral 
and  physical,  according  to  his  will,  and  to  the  constitution  of 
the  agent,  and  the  subject  of  their  action ;  free  where  morals 
and  accountability  are  concerned ;  necessary  where  the  ma- 
teriality of  the  subject  requires  it — and  certain  in  all.  For 
to  an  omniscient  Being,  who  is  perfectly  acquainted  with  the 
nature  and  influence  of  every  motive,  its  combination,  and  co- 
action,  with  all  other  means,  and  with  the  peculiar  tempera- 
ment of  each  individual  agent,  moral  effects  are  as  certain,  in 
their  order,  as  the  results  of  any  physical  causes  whatever. 
Apply  these  reflections  to  the  fall ;  though  it  has  taken  place 
in  conformity  with  a  divine  decree,  it  was  as  much  the  free 
effect  of  motive  on  an  intelligent  being  capable  of  being  sway- 
ed by  his  appetites  and  passions,  as  any  of  the  ordinary  ac- 
tions of  huDian  life.     It  is  true,  the  agency  of  the  serpent  is 


267 

represented  as  the  medium  through  which  the  fatal  choice 
was  produced.  But  as  no  miraculous  power  is  alleged  in  the 
case,  it  was  entirely  effected  by  the  suasion  of  motives  freely 
addressed  to  the  natural  and  yet  uncorrupted  principles  of 
the  soul.  If,  then,  we  can  suppose  circumstances  to  exist, 
in  the  correspondence  of  the  dispositions,  still  innocent  of 
human  nature,  with  the  temptations,  addressed  to  them, 
which,  by  their  free  and  natural  action,  would  be  followed  by 
a  derelicHon  of  duty,  would  the  will  of  God  giving  existence 
to  these  circumstances,  in  conformity  to  his  ultimate  designs, 
call  it  decreet  or  by  whatever  less  offensive  name  you  please, 
impose  any  fatal  necessity  upon  the  act,  or  render  the  divine 
agency  in  the  existence  of  those  circumstances,  in  the  smal- 
lest degree  more  arbitrary  or  unjust,  than  their  existence  by 
any  other  cause  ?  This  justification  of  the  principles  of  the 
Supralapsarian,  who  takes  it  as  an  acknowledged  fact,  that 
the  decrees  of  God  embrace  the  whole  system  of  the  universe, 
appears  perfectly  conformable  to  the  dictates  of  the  soundest 
reason. 

If  his  antagonists  demand,  do  not  these  ideas  impute  the 
sin  of  man  to  his  Creator,  as  being,  if  not  immediately,  yet 
ultimately  and  indirectly  its  author  ?  He  confidently  replies, 
not  more  than  those  of  the  most  strenuous  defenders  of  our 
moral  liberty.  For  it  has  formerly  been  shewn,  that  we  al- 
ways act  with  the  most  perfect  consciousness  of  freedom  in 
every  choice,  and  the  most  entire  control  over  our  own  ac- 


268 

tlons.     If  again  they  demand,  does  not  this  language  exhibit 
a  hard  and  cruel  representation  of  the  Supreme  Being?  he 
frankly  answers,  not  more  than  the  principles  of  those  who  ad- 
mit that  the  Almighty  and  Omniscient  Being,  who  created 
all  things,  must  have  foreseen,  yet  permitted  the  evil  which 
he  could  have  prevented,  and  formed  a  system  out  of  which 
it  would,  freely  indeed,  but  infallibly  spring  ;  nay,  which  was 
necessary  to  accomplish  the  ultimate  designs  of  his  goodness 
and  mercy.     If  he  is  farther  pressed  with  the  difficulty  of 
accounting  for  the  fact,  that  a  wise  and  benevolent  Deity 
should  give  existence  to  a  world  subject,  by  his  decree,  to 
sin,  and  its  consequent  miseries,  though  intended,  ultimately, 
as  a  conspicuous  theatre  of  his  benignity  ; — he  calmly  rests 
upon  the  justness  of  this  principle,  that,  what  might  or  might 
not  have  been  done  by  God  infinilely  powerful  and  wise,  is 
not  within  the  range  of  human  intellect  to  decide.    With  sub- 
mission, therefore,  to  the  Divine  Wisdom,  he  resolves  the 
whole  into  the  sovereignty,  that  is,  the  unsearchable  counsel 
of  Heaven  ;  comprising  designs,  and  ends,  and  means,  utter- 
ly beyond  the  comprehension  of  minds  so  limited   as  ours. 
And  this  is  a  solution  to  which  every  sect  in  religion,  or  phi- 
losophy,  must  ultimately  have  recourse,  in  their  reasonings 
concerning  the  introduction  of  sin  into  the  works  of  God. 


269 


THE  CHARACTERS  OP  THE  DECREES  ASCRIBED  TO  THEM 
IN  THE  HOLir  SCRIPTURES. 

Some  disting:uishing  characters  of  the  divine  decrees,  either 
directly,  or  by  obvious  implication,  ascribed  to  them  in  the 
holy  scriptures,  will  contribute  to  elucidate  the  general  sub« 
ject,  and  assist  in  the  explanation  of  many  important  ques- 
tions connected  with  them.  Those  which  chiefly  merit  the 
attention  of  the  metaphysician,  or  the  divine,  are,  their  eter- 
nity, their  freedom,  their  soverei2;nty,  their  wisdom,  their 
holiness,  their  absoluteness,  and  immutability. 

1.  That  which  primarily  merits  our  consideration  is  their 
eternity.  Nothing  which  implies  succession,  or  change,  is 
to  be  imputed  to  the  Infinite  Mind  ;  so  that  all  his  purposes 
are  coeternal  with  himself.  Therefore  the  apostle  charac- 
terises his  decree,  as  his  eternal  purpose  ;  and  speaking  of 
believers,  he  says,  they  have  been  chosen  in  Christ  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world;  for  all  is  eternity  which  is  an- 
tecedent to  the  commencement  of  time. 

A  metaphysical,  and  probably  improper  question,  as  cer- 
tainly it  is  useless,  has  been  raised  upon  this  subject  by  a 
vain  curiosity — Whether  the  existence  of  the  Sovereign 
Mind  ought  to  be  considered  as  antecedent  to  his  decrees  ? 
Obvious  it  is,  that,  in  contemplating,  or  speaking  of  them, 


2ro 

there  must  be  a  precedence  of  order  in  their  arrangement ; 
but  in  their  existence,  there  can  be  no  priority  of  time :  as, 
in  contemplating  the  sun,  we  regard  the  body,  before  the 
light  which  issues  from  it,  although,  in  strictness  of  concep- 
tion, the  effect  is  simultaneous  with  the  cause.  Perhaps  we 
may  say  of  this,  as  of  many  other  metaphysical  questions  ; 
that  it  is  a  vain  and  fruitless  effort  of  the  mind,  and  uselessly 
wasting  its  strength,  to  attempt  to  frame  ideas  on  subjects 
that  are  too  fine  and  subtle  to  be  embraced  by  the  human  in- 
tellect. Every  thing  in  our  ideas,  relating  to  duration,  is  unit- 
ed with  succession.  Eternity,  in  its  proper  nature,  tran- 
scends the  ingenuity  of  the  mind  to  conceive.  And  disqui- 
sitions on  questions  of  such  extreme  subtlety,  generally  indi- 
cate only  feeble  and  unsatisfactory  efforts  to  apply  the  nar- 
rowness of  our  understanding  to  subjects  which,  from  their 
nature,  must  forever  baffle  its  inquiries.  Subjects  so  sub- 
lime and  so  far  exalted  above  our  reach,  tend,  in  our  endeav- 
ours to  embrace  them,  only  to  humble  and  overwhelm  the 
soul.  But  as  far  as  our  conceptions  can  comprehend  the 
subject,  we  may  pronounce,  that  the  decrees  of  God,  which 
are  the  purposes  and  prescriptions  of  his  infinite  wisdom,  are 
Goeternal  with  his  existence. 

2.  The  next  characteristic  of  the  decrees  which  we  have 
remarked,  is  their  freedom.  An  obvious  consequence  of  the 
perfect  moral  freedom  of  the  Divuie  Being  in  al)  his  coun- 
sels ;  which  excludes  the  idea  of  any  necessity  in  his  acts 


.      271 

resembling  that  under  which  the  physical  world  is  held.  It 
is  declared  in  all  the  symbols  of  the  orthodox  reformed 
churches,  that  God,  from  eternity,  did  most  wisely,  most 
justly,  and  most  freely,  decree  whatsoever  comes  to  pass — 
The  only  objection  which  has  been  plausibly  urged  against 
this  principle,  is  that  which  has  been  maintained  by  the  fa- 
mous German  philosopher  Leibnitz,  in  his  Theodice',  in  so 
superior  a  manner,  that  he  may  justly  be  esteemed  the  father 
of  it.  His  maxim  is,  that  infinite  perfection  implies  necessity 
in  all  its  acts.  And  the  Eternal,  being  infinitely  wise  and 
good,  must,  from  the  unchangeable  rectitude  of  his  nature, 
choose  on  all  subjects,  only  and  necessarily  that  which  ia 
best.  The  conclusion  which  he  infers  from  this  principle  is, 
that  the  system  which  God  hath  created,  and  the  order  of 
things  which  he  hath  established  in  it,  must,  of  all  possible 
systems  be  the  best ;  that  is,  in  its  nature,  order,  and  arrange- 
ments, be  the  most  perfect.  This  doctrine,  on  a  transient 
inspection,  is  captivating  to  a  speculative  mind ;  yet  when 
closely  examined,  will  be  seen  to  be  liable  to  unanswerable 
objections.  It  proceeds  on  the  supposition  that  there  arc 
ideas  of  good,  and  of  best  antecedent,  in  the  order  of  con- 
ception, to  the  idea  of  God,  and  independent  of  him,  out  of 
which  he  might  make  a  selection,  according  to  his  pleasure, 
in  organizing  a  created  system,  as  an  artist  may  select  out  of 
forms  already  existing,  such  as  may  best  correspond  with  his 
present  designs.  Whereas  nothing  can  exist  without,  or  in- 
dependent of  God.     He  formed  the  ideas  of  the  things,  with 


272 

the  things  themselves.  Nothing  is  better  or  best  in  nature 
but  as  he  hath  created  it,  and  fixed  its  relations.  Besides, 
these  are  definite  terms  of  comparison  among  things,  of  the 
flame  kind  actually  existing.  But,  with  regard  to  plans  pos- 
sible to  infinite  wisdom,  it  is,  perhaps,  an  error  in  our  concep- 
tions, to  suppose  that  there  is  any  one  which  can  be  pro- 
nounced the  best.  To  a  finite  subject  it  were  absurd  to  as- 
cribe this  superlative  quality.  And  if  the  subject  be  infinite, 
must  not  the  possible  combinations  in  an  infinite  system,  be 
infinite  and  endless  ?* 

I  must  further  observe  on  the  idea  of  the  best  possible  sys- 
tem, and  the  necessary  nature  of  the  divine  decrees  which, 
as  a  natural  consequence,  has  been  deduced  from  it,  that  it 
is  pressed  with  two  difficulties  which  have  never  yet  been  sa- 
tistactorily  resolved ;  in  the  first  place,  the  unreasonableness 
of  presuming  that  Almighty  God  should  have  exhausted 
himself  in  the  production  of  the  universe,  or  should  ever 
have  exerted  any  ultimate  effort  of  omnipotence  ;  in  the  next 
place,  the  proximity  of  this  idea  to  the  fate  of  the  Stoics  ; 
to  which  certainly  it  is,  in  language  at  least,  too  nearly  allied, 
which  was  maintained  by  them,  to  be  antecedent,  and  sape- 
rior  to  the  Deity. — The  conclusion,  therefore,  still  remains, 
that  the  decrees  of  God  are  most  free,  and  that  they  are  not 
either  arrested  or  controled  by  the  laws  of  necessity. 

*  Witherspoou's  Lectures. 


273 

3.  Their  Wisdom,  and  their  Sovereignty  in  the  next 
place,  are  usually  joined  together,  by  divines,  in  order  to  limit 
the  conclusions  on  each  side,  which  men  are  prone  rashly 
to  frame  concerning  them.     God,  as  sovereign  of  the  uni- 
verse, has  the  most  perfect  right  to  ordain  whatever  seemeth 
good  to  him.     And  though  all  his  acts  are  ever  most  just  and 
equitable,  yet^  often,  wrapped,  as  they  are,  in  the  profound 
depths  of  his  wisdom,  they  appear,  to  our  feeble  vision,  to 
be  covered  with  clouds  and  darkness.     His  rights,  as  an  in- 
finite sovereign,  ought,  at  all  times,  to  command  our  unmur- 
muring obedience  ;  and  our  conviction  that  all  his  commands 
are  founded  in  equity  and  wisdom,  are  sufficient  to  engage 
our  submissive  acquiescence,  although  the  reasons  on  which 
they  move,  are  often  concealed  from  our  view.     In  the  whole 
order  of  nature,  and  of  providence,  what  we  cannot  explain, 
we  resolve  into  the  sovereignty  of  God.     Not  that  any  or- 
der, or  arrangement  of  his  may  ever  be  esteemed  arbitrary, 
and  without  reason ;  but,  when  we  cannot  fathom  its  wisdom, 
his  authority,  which  is  only  another  term  by  which  to  ex- 
press his  sovereign  will,  and  his  rightful  dominion,  ought 
ever  to  be  deemed  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  obedience  and 
duty  of  children  to  their  heavenly  Father.     Frequently,  the 
feebleness  of  the  human  mind  is  called  to  submission  on  this 
ground,  arising  from  innumerable  events  occuring  to  our  ob- 
servation and  experience,  which  baffle  reason  to  account  for, 
which  elude  conjecture,  and  in  many  instances,  seem  even  to 
contradict  our  idcns  of  divine  goodness  and  justice,     in  eve^ 

35 


274 

ry  event,  it  is  a  sufficient  reason  to  a  pious  man  that  the 
Lord  hath  done  it.  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do 
right?  There  are  divines  who  extend  much  farther  their 
ideas  of  the  sovereignty  of  God.  Nothing,  they  say,  is  ei- 
ther good  or  wise  in  itself,  but  only  as  it  is  made  so  by  the 
divine  will.  According  to  this  principle  the  will  of  God  is 
the  sole  reason  why  one  action  is  superior  in  goodness  and 
excellence,  to  another,  and,  in  one  word,  why  virtue  is  pre- 
ferable to  vice.  Perhaps  these  writers  have  a  better  meaning 
than,  to  us,  their  terms  seem  to  convey ;  but,  apparently, 
they  destroy  the  very  foundation  of  the  moral  attributes  of 
the  Deity,  and  resolve  the  whole  of  his  perfection  into  pow- 
er  and  will. 

The  holy  scriptures  are  full  of  the  most  explicit  testimo- 
nies, both  to  the  wisdom  and  sovereignty  of  the  divine  de- 
crees. "  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  God!  How  unsearchable  are  his  judg- 
ments, and  his  ways  past  finding  out !  Even  so.  Father ! 
for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight !"  But,  with  the  most  po- 
etic and  striking  imagery  is  the  sovereignty  of  the  divine  go- 
vernment, in  the  dominion  of  providence,  represented  in  the 
close  of  the  book  of  Job.  That  sublime  composition  is  ac- 
knowledged, by  the  best  writers,  to  contain  a  dramatic  ex- 
hibition of  the  difficulties  arising  to  reason  from  the  afflictions 
of  good  men,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  in  the  world. 
After  the  friends  of  Job  had  wearied  themseivea  with  vain 


275 

tliscussions  on  this  embarrassing  subject ;  when  the  Almigh- 
ty is  introduced,  speaking  out  of  the  whirlwind  to  decide  the 
question,  instead  of  reasoning  on  the  wisdom  and  equity  of 
his  proceedings,  he  simply  displays  the  majesty  of  his  pow- 
er in  the  works  of  nature.  The  humiliating  inference  from 
which  was, — your  intellects  are  too  feeble  to  comprehend 
the  wisdom  of  the  principles  on  which  my  government  moves. 
Vain  it  is,  to  attempt  to  unfold  them  to  your  darkened  minds. 
I  display  before  your  senses  the  majesty  of  my  power,  that 
it  may  arrest  your  cavils  against  ray  inscrutable  purposes, 
and  leave  on  your  hearts  the  deep  conviction,  that  all  the 
dispensations  of  the  omnipotent  Jehovah  must  be  equitable 
and  just. 

Submission  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  divine  administra- 
tration,  or  the  habitual  acknowledgement  of  this  principle,  in 
all  the  events  that  befall  ourselves,  is  deeply  humbling  to  the 
self-confidence  of  human  vanity.  The  mind  is  apt  to  revolt 
at  a  doctrine  asserting  even  divine  power  in  a  tone  apparent- 
ly so  arbitrary,  and  at  acts  the  reasons  of  which  lie  far 
above  its  comprehension.  It  is  only  after  repeated  trials  of 
its  own  powers  in  vain  reasonings,  and  abortive  conjectures, 
to  explain  the  wa^s  of  God,  that,  lost  in  the  complication, 
and  depth  of  its  inquiries,  it  is  constrained  at  length  to  con- 
fess its  impotence,  and  to  acquiesce  in  the  appointments  of 
Heaven,  simply  saying  it  is  the  Lord,  let  him  do  what  seem- 
eth  him  good. — In  its  first  struggles  with  the  ideas  of  the 


276 

sovereignt}',  and  {he  unsearchable  counsels  of  God,  it  reseoi- 
bles  a  restive  steed  chaffing  and  fretting  himself  with  his  own 
spirit,  before  he  has  learned  to  yield  to  the  control  of  the 
bit.  But  when  he  has  been  trained  to  proceed  submissive- 
\y  along  his  prescribed  path,  he  moves  with  ease  and  satisfac- 
tion to  himself,  guided  by  the  wisdom  of  the  mind  that  di- 
rects him.  So,  when  the  christian,  humbled  by  many  fruit- 
less and  disappointed  efforts,  to  push  his  inquiries  on  these 
obscure  subjects  beyond  the  powers  of  the  human  mind,  hag 
learned,  at  length,  justly  to  estimate  his  own  force,  he  per- 
ceives an  unspeakable  tranquillity  of  heart,  in  piously  sub- 
mitting, on  all  those  questions  which  he  cannot  explain,  to 
the  will  and  the  wisdom  of  Almighty  God.  The  difficulties, 
however,  which  have  embarrassed  this  subject  to  certain 
writers,  have  arisen,  chiefly,  from  the  falsity  of  their  own 
conceptions,  and  improperly  confounding  the  ideas  of  sove- 
reignty, and  of  arbitrary  will.  None  of  the  acts  of  the  di- 
vine government  are  ever  arbitrary  in  their  principle,  or  take 
place  without  the  most  perfect  reason ;  but  the  reasons  on 
which  they  move  are  often  far  removed  beyond  the  ken  and 
elude  the  penetration  of  our  minds.  And  this  is  all  that  is 
intended  by  a  wise  man  in  speaking  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
divine  counsels. 

From  a  similar  error  in  conception  proceeds  the  offence 
which  some,  otherwise  worthy  and  good  men,  have  conceiv- 
ed against  the  doctrine  of  divine  preordination  applied  to  the 


27? 

everlasting  states  of  the  human  race,  as  if  it  implied  that 
■ome  sinners  are  chosen  to  the  inheritance  of  eternal  life,  by 
an  unreasonable  predilection.  This  is  never  the  meaning  of 
any  writer  who  thinks  respectfully  of  the  divine  economy. 
Let  us  compare  the  preordinations  of  Heaven  with  regard 
to  the  present,  and  the  future  world.  There  is,  in  many 
respects,  a  manifest  analogy  between  them.  And  the  same 
reasonings  which  demonstrate  the  divine  decrees  with  rela- 
tion to  the  various  conditions  of  the  present  life  to  exist  with- 
out any  infringement  on  the  moral  liberty  of  man,  or  impeach- 
ment of  tlie  justice  of  God,  apply  equally  to  the  destinations 
of  eternity.  The  states  and  conditions  of  men  to  which 
they  are  severally  appointed  in  this  world,  are  never  sepa- 
rated in  the  decree  of  God,  from  the  industry,  the  pru- 
dence, the  talents,  and  all  the  means  which,  in  the  order  of 
nature,  contribute  to  the  effect.  And  it  is  equally  true  that, 
wherever  those  means  are  properly  applied,  it  is  the  usual 
course  of  providence  that  they  accomplish  their  end  ;  they 
gain  and  fix  that  state  in  life  for  the  individual  which  is  the 
will  of  God. — Let  us  transfer  this  analogy  to  the  future  state 
of  each  man.  This  state  cannot  be  presumed  to  be  the  ob- 
ject of  the  divine  decree,  independent  of  the  moral  qualifi- 
cations which  prepare  him  for  its  possession,  nor  those  quali- 
fications independent  of  the  means  of  divine  culture  which 
he  enjoys,  and  the  pious  improvement  which  he  makes  of 
them.  And,  let  it  be  remembered,  that  the  aids  which  we 
possess  of  enlarging  otir  knowledge  in  divine  truth,  and  cnl- 


2r8 

iirating  in  the  heart  a  divine  taste,  are  as  certain  in  their  ope- 
ration, and,  under  the  guidance  and  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  as  effectual  to  their  end,  according  to  their  extent, 
and  application,  as  any  train  of  causes  in  the  natural  world. 
Included  in  the  decree  of  election,  therefore,  are  all  those 
means  of  instruction,  and  motives  of  holiness  essentially  con- 
nected with  salvation, — ^those  opportunities  of  divine  infor- 
mation, those  advantages  of  situation, — of  example— of  ex- 
ternal circumstances — of  providential  dispensations — and  all 
those  infinite,  and  almost  imperceptible  aids,  and  motives 
which  under  the  influences  of  that  divine  teacher,  are  calcu- 
lated  to  enlighten  the  understanding,  to  touch,  and  trans- 
form,  and  mould  the  heart. — The  sovereignty  of  the  de- 
cree, therefore,  respects,  not  more  the  end,  or  the  eternal 
life  of  the  elected  sinner,  than  the  various  means  of  moral  cul- 
ture, which  have  the  effect,  under  the  teaching  of  the  Di- 
vine Spirit,  to  prepare  the  soul  for  her  final  destination. 
For,  in  the  view  of  God,  the  means,  and  the  end,  are  es- 
sentially, and  most  intimately  conjoined,  and  both  embraced 
In  the  same  act. 

In  this  consideration  of  the  subject,  individual  election  is 
analogous  to  the  elevation  of  particular  nations,  as  of  Israel, 
to  a  state  of  peculiar  favour  with  God :  a  speciss  of  election 
with  which  all  parties  profess  to  be  perfectly  reconciled. 
Analogous  I  say  ;  for  the  obvious  effect  of  this  preference, 
h  the  enjoyment  of  special  privileges,  instructions,  and  re- 


279 

ligious  ordinances,  designed  to  form  the  understanding  and 
the  heart,  to  the  love  and  obedience  of  divine  truth,  by 
which  we  have  seen  the  ancient  church  cherished  in  the  bo- 
som of  that  favoured  nation,  not  so  much  by  any  direct  and 
miraculous  operation  on  the  hearts  of  the  people,  as  by  the 
excellence  of  her  sacred  institutions.  So  likewise  is  formed 
the  believer,  under  the  grace  of  the  gospel,  by  the  due  im- 
provement of  his  spiritual  and  precious  privileges,  accompa- 
nied by  the  blessing  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Against  the  sovereignty  of  the  divine  decrees,  in  the  elec- 
tion of  nations,  communities,  families,  and  even  individuals 
to  peculiar  means  of  moral  cultivation,  leading  to  the  ultimate 
ends  of  religion,  in  the  sanctification  of  the  heart,  the  great- 
est assertors  of  human  liberty,  or  revilers  of  divine  decrees, 
find  nothing  to  object;  for  the  fact  is  before  their  eyes. 
And  in  the  formation  of  a  believer  into  the  image  of  Christ, 
there  is  nothing  different  in  the  means,  or  motives  employed, 
from  those  which  operate  in  the  whole  church ;  unless  that  in 
particular  instances,  they  may  be  applied,  by  the  Blessed  Spi- 
rit, with  greater  energy,  or  a  finer  adaptation  lo  the  charac- 
ter and  state  of  different  minds.  For  the  lights,  and  instruc- 
tions, and  motives  to  conversion,  given  to  the  church  at  large, 
are  those  only  which  operate  on  each  individual,  and  are 
abundant  for  all  the  purposes  of  piety,  in  the  hands  of  that 
omniscient,  and  all-powerful  spirit,  who  knows  how  to  reach 
the  heart,  through  them,  wifh  the  finest  insinuation,  to  move 


280 

it  by  the  most  affecting  touches,  and  to  form  it  ultimately 
into  the  image  of  his  own  holiness,  by  continual,  and  almost 
insensible  impressions. 

We  behold  here  the  sovereignty  of  the  divine  decrees 
placed  upon  an  intelligible  and  liberal  footing.  We  behold 
likewise  the  perfect  correspondence  of  human  liberty,  and 
the  natural  relation  of  means  and  end,  with  the  powerful  will, 
and  all-presiding  wisdom  of  Almighty  God. 

4.  The  holiness  and  justice  of  the  decrees  have  created 
no  controversy  among  those  who  acknowledge  their  exis- 
tence ;  nor  can  there  remain  a  doubt  concerning  them  in  the 
minds  of  any  who  believe  in  the  being  of  God  most  holy 
and  most  wise. 

5.  Much  more  disputation  has  been  awakened  with  regard 
to  the  attributes  of  absoluteness  and  immutability,  ascribed 
to  them  by  the  orthodox.  And  certainly  no  subjects  seem 
more  to  have  embarrassed  metaphysicians,  and  divines,  ok"  to 
have  excited  among  them  a  greater  variety  of  absurd  specu- 
lations. Some  writers  you  have  seen  maintaining  the  posi- 
tion, that  there  can  be  no  certainly  in  free  actions  antece- 
dent to  their  existence.  And,  to  preserve  the  consistency 
of  their  principles,  they  are  obliged  to  deny  the  prescience 
of  God ;  or,  with  the  ancient  Stoics,  and  a  great  portion  of 
modern  philosophers,  to  subject  the  whole  universe  to  the 


281 

cheerless  laws  of  necessilj.  Others,  constrained  by  (heir 
reason  to  admit  the  universal  foreknowledge  of  God,  have,  in 
order  to  account  for  the  divine  preseieuce,  had  recourse  to 
an  absurd  principle  of  the  school-men,  called  by  thera  sci- 
eniia  media,  which  implies  an  antecedent  apprehension  of  all 
things  in  the  Divine  Mind,  in  their,  proper  nature,  tim.e,  and 
place,  resembling  the  immediate  vision  of  all  objects  as  in 
perspective  ;  ad.  if  present ;  but  abstracted  from  all  consid- 
eration of  their  mutual  relations  as  cause  and  effect,  whence 
any  rational  inference  could  be  formed  concerning  their  ex- 
istence. It  is  the  contemplation  of  the  universe  throughout 
Its  whole  duration  and  extent  as  a  present  object ;  it  is  the 
knowledge  simply  of  the  facts,  independent  of  every  other 
consideration,  by  a  mysterious  power  in  the  divine  nature, 
no  similitude  to  which  has  ever  been  imparted  to  any  of  his 
creatures.  It  is,  I  presume,  a  mere  absurdity  in  our  coH' 
ceptions. 

But  the  opinion  which  many  pious  and  worthy  men  have 
embraced,  of  a  necessity  in  our  actions,  which  does  not  re- 
move their  guilt,  deserves  a  more  particular  consideration.-— 
It  is  said  to  be  a  necessity  arising  out  of  the  natural  inclina- 
tions of  the  mind,  and,  as  the  action  entirely  concurs  with  our 
will,  it  creates  a  feeling  of  liberty  in  pursuing  our  own  pleas* 
ure,  while  governing  our  conduct  with  a  force  not  only  cer' 
litiii  in  the  event,  but  irresistible  in  its  cause.  I  am  willing 
0  believe  that  tliese  good  men,  many  of  whom  are  distin- 


•282 

gulshed  by  their  pious  and  excellent  writings,  mean  no  more 
by  this  phraseology,  than  I  have  studied  to  express  by  that 
certainty  which  I  have  shewn  may,  and  to  the  Divine  Mind, 
does  ever  accompany  moral,  as  well  as  physical  causes.  But 
I  conceive  their  language  to  be  exceptionable,  and  liable  to 
dangerous  abuse.  Their  reasonings  in  many  of  their  princi- 
ples, too  evidently  coincide  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Hob- 
besian  school. 

The  certainty  of  all  the  purposes  of  God,  is  the  chief 
ground  on  which  these  writers  maintain  the  doctrine  of  neces- 
sity.  The  one  they  presume  to  be  involved  in  the  other. 
On  the  contrary,  I  conceive,  that  there  is  a  clear  and  intelli- 
gible distinction  between  the  ideas  of  necessity  and  of  cer- 
tainty,  which,  as  happens  in  many  other  moral  and  intellect- 
ual truths,  can  be  more  easily  conceived,  or  understood,  by 
an  internal  feeling,  than  explained  in  precise  and  definite 
terms,  which  must  convey  ideas  too  fine  and  siuiple  to  be 
analyzed  in  language.  All  men  can  easily  understand  the 
difference  between  a  thing  certainly  done  by  a  free  cause, 
and  the  same  thing  accomplished  by  an  internal  but  unper- 
ceived  force,  so  that  it  could  not  be  otherwise  than  it  is. 

Many  excellent  men  who  profess  to  be  the  patrons  of  this 
system  of  necessity,  but  whose  language,  I  am  persuaded,  is 
more  in  error  than  their  hearts,  lay  it  down/ as  an  axiom  in 
their  metaphysic?,  that  the  will  is  irresistibly  determined  by 


283 

the  strongest  motive  at  the  time  before  the  mind,  and  can- 
not act  otherwise  than  it  does  ;  not  sufficiently  attending  to 
the  entire  diflference  between  the  nature  and  movements  of 
mind  and  of  matter,  of  motive,  and  of  physical  impulse.  How 
can  it  be  known  that  it  is  the  strongest  motive  which,  in  every 
instance,  governs  our  choice  ?  Do  you  say,  as  is  commonly 
done,  because  it  does  govern  ?  This  circle  is  obviously  beg- 
ging the  principle  in  question — it  governs  our  choice  because 
it  is  the  strongest  motive  ;  and  it  is  the  sirongest  motive  be- 
cause it  governs  our  choice.  In  opposition  to  this  pretended 
maxim,  the  soundest  metaphysicians,  and  the  most  accurate 
observers  of  the  operations  of  the  mhid,  agree  with  the  learn- 
ed and  profound  Dr.  Reid  of  Glasgow,  that  we  often  act  ac- 
cording to  the  direction  of  a  weaker  motive  ;  and  sometimes 
act  without  any  perceptible  motive  at  all. 

Although  the  mind  seldom  acts  without  motive  ;  yet  it  is 
not  motive  which  eKclusively  determines  its  volitions  ;  or  is 
the  sole  cause  of  action.  This  would  be  reducing  action  to 
a  mechanical  operation,  and  justify  those  material  analogies, 
in  explaining  its  nature,  which  I  have  before  condemned. — 
The  proper  effect  of  motive  is  to  solicit  and  excite  the  mind, 
and  to  put  it  into  a  state  of  action.  But  I  have  a  power  with- 
in me  which  determines  my  choice,  on  a  view  more  deliberate, 
or  more  rapid,  of  the  motives  before  it.  If  you  ask  me  to 
explain  that  power — I  feel  it — I  am  sensible  that  I  exercise 
it — and,  in  the  feeling  and  exercise  I  understand  the  act. 


284 

Every  man  may,  in  the  same  manner,  feel  and  understand  it 
by  attending  to  the  operations  of  his  own  mind.  But  I  am 
no  more  capable  of  explaining  it  in  terms,  than  I  can  explain 
the  sensation  of  seeing.  The  perception  is  too  simple.  It 
is  understood  by  the  mind,  only  in  the  act  of  perceiving,  or 
exerting  its  power  of  volition.  This  does  not  lessen  the 
clearness  and  certainty  of  the  idea.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  rea- 
son why  this  idea  is  peculiarly  clear.  It  is  among  the  pri- 
mary sensations  of  our  nature.  And  in  no  other  way,  than 
these  original  sensations,  are  those  ideas  that  are  emphatically 
and  happily  called  ^rsf  truthSy  or  axioms  in  science,  which 
are  the  elements,  and  clearest  materials  of  all  our  knowledge, 
conveyed  to  the  intellect.  They  are  the  impressions  of  the 
hand  of  God  upon  the  mind  ;  convictions  resulting  from  the 
very  constitution  of  our  nature.  Thus  am  I  conscious  of 
my  liberty,  or  power  over  my  own  acts,  in  the  acts  them- 
ielves. 

Upon  the  whole  view  of  this  subject,  the  result  is,  that  I 
act  with  the  most  perfect  freedom.  Motive,  though  it  influ- 
ences, does  not  necessarily  determine  my  choice.  Yet  such 
certainty  there  is  in  the  actions  of  rational  and  moral  beings, 
according  to  their  dispositions*  education,  habits,  and  the 
whole  atmosphere  of  motives  which  encompasses  them,  as 
lays  as  a  foundation,  among  men  themselves,  in  their  social 
relations,  for  the  most  useful  general  knowledge  of  one  ano- 
thefj  and  in  God  for  the  most  perfect  foreknowledge  of  all 


285 

the  actions  of  life,  he  having  formed  the  various  tempera- 
went  of  individuals,  and  disposed,  in  his  providence,  the  whoh^ 
train  of  motives,  to  the  most  minute,  and  often  imperceptible, 
which  continually  operate  upon  all  the  springs  and  principles 
of  action ;  both  which,  the  temperament  of  the  individual, 
and  the  succession  and  combination  of  motives  he  has  con- 
stituted, and  ordained,  and  governs,  in  such  a  manner,  in  his 
church,  under  the  all  wise  direction  of  his  Holj  Spirit,  as 
most  effectually,  yet  most  freely,  to  accomplish  all  his  most 
wise  and  holy  purposes. 

Thus  have  I  unfolded  the  ideas  involved  in  the  technical 
and  systematic  phrase — the  Decrees  of  God  ;  which,  being 
interpreted  by  the  obvious  and  philosophic  language  of  the 
Laws  of  Nature,  or  its  various  powers  and  tendencies  of  ac- 
tion, from  which  proceed,  under  God,  as  his  organs  of  opera- 
tion, all  events,  whether  natural  or  moral  in  the  universe, 
these  decrees,  which  appear,  to  certain  writers,  with  such  a 
formidable  aspect,  stand  on  plain  and  intelligible  ground,  ac- 
knowledged, when  rightly  understood,  by  all  the  best  friend'? 
of  science  and  religion. 

From  the  whole  of  these  reflections  it  results,  that  the  de- 
crees of  God  are  eternal,  like  his  will  and  purposes  in  the  laws 
of  nature ;— they  are  most  certain  in  their  consequences, 
that  is,  they  are  absolutely  ordained,  a  term  equivalent  to  the 
former,  except  that  it  seems  to  carry  in  it  more  of  the  author- 


286 

ity  on  which  all  depends ;  and,  finally,  like  Ihe  same  laws, 
Ihey  are  immutable.  This  is,  obviously,  the  amount  of  the 
proposition  in  our  confession,  and  catechisms,  that  the  de- 
crees of  God  are  absolute  and  unchangeable^  which  to  some 
sects  of  christians,  has  given  great,  and,  I  presume,  unneces- 
sary offence. 

From  the  interpretation  which  has  been  given  to  this  im- 
portant proposition,  we  perceive  the  coincidence  of  reason, 
with  religion  ;  and  the  support  which  science,  justly  explain- 
ed, may  often  render  to  revelation. 


OF    THE 


COVENANT  OF  WORKS 


AND    THE 


FALL  OF  MAN. 


OF  THE 

COVENANT  OF  WORKS 

AND    THE 

FALL  OF  MAN. 


1  PROCEED,  in  the  next  place,  to  Ihe  consideration  of  the 
Covenant  of  VVerks,  and  the  Fall  of  Man.  This  covenant, 
as  it  is  contemplated  in  our  systems,  is  the  transaction  repre- 
sented to  have  taken  place  between  man  and  his  Creator  at 
his  first  formation,  wherein  a  law  of  duty  was  prescribed  to 
Lira,  under  the  explicit  threatening  of  death,  in  case  of  trans- 
gression, and  the  iinpiied  promise  of  life,  on  the  condition  of 
obedience.  His  whole  duty,  however,  in  this  covenant,  was 
collected  in  a  single  prohibition  as  its  test.  It  is  proper  to 
observe,  that  the  term  covenant  is  not  employed  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  transaction  by  the  sacred  writer.  But  it  is  not 
the  object  of  the  holy  scriptures  to  arrange  for  us  systems, 
with  scientific  precision  and  method.  They  simply  express 
things  in  a  free  and  narrative  order,  80  as  to  be  most  easily 
conceived,  and  applied  to  use  by  the  plainest  readers;  and 
this  diffusive  style  has  been  collected,  by  divines,  into  spe- 
cific propositions,   and  disposed,  according  to  the  order  and 

dependence  of  ideas,  into  a  scientific  form,  which,  for  the  con- 

37 


290 

veDience  of  arrangement,  and  conciseness  of  expression,  re- 
quires, frequently,  a  peculiar  and  technical  phraseology.  Of 
this  we  have  an  example  in  this  term.  In  the  strictness  of 
meaning  usually  annexed  to  it,  a  covenant  could  not  take 
place  between  the  Supreme  Jehovah,  and  the  insect  man. 
For  it  properly  signifies  a  stipulation  between  persons  who 
are,  in  some  degree,  equal  and  free.  Yet,  as  far  as  such  an 
agreement  can  be  supposed  to  exist  between  parties  of  such 
infinite  disparity  as  the  Creator  and  the  creature,  it  will  be 
found  to  be  contained  in  this  precept  to  Adam.  In  it  a  duty 
is  to  be  performed — a  reward  is  proposed  for  obedience — and 
a  penalty  denounced  in  case  of  transgression.  For,  although 
the  reward  is  not  explicitly  stated  in  terms,  it  is  manifestly 
involved  in  the  threatening.  If  death  was  the  forfeiture  for 
disobedience,  the  necessary  implication  was,  that  life  was  the 
alternative  for  obedience. 

Having  justified  the  technical  denomination  which  this 
transaction  has  received  among  divines,  it  is  only  necessary, 
farther,  to  suggest  that  it  is  spoken  of,  in  our  systems,  under 
two  different  appellations,  being  sometimes  styled,  from  its 
condition,  the  Covenant  of  Works,  and  sometimes,  from  its 
implied  reward,  the  Covenant  of  Life. 

Various  circumstances  in  the  constitution,  administration, 
and  appendages  of  the  covenant,  demand  our  most  serious  in- 
quiries.    1 .  In  the  first  place,  the  peculiar  selection  of  a  com- 


291 

mand,  or  prohibition  for  the  trial  of  Adam's  obedience.  2.  la 
the  second  place,  the  full  ioiplication  of  the  promise  and  the 
threatening.  3.  Thirdly,  the  representative  character  of  our 
first  father  in  this  transaction.  4.  And  lasily,  the  significa- 
tion of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  and  of  the  tree 
of  life. 

1.  ON  THE  SELECTION  OF  AN  OBJECT  FOR  TflE  TRIAL  of 

man's  obedience. 

When  we  consider  the  natural  imbecility  of  the  human 
mind,  and  the  limited  sphere  to  which  the  range  of  its  ideas 
is  confined,  it  cannot  be  surprising,  if,  in  the  revelation  of  the 
divine  will,  in  the  holy  scriptures,  as  well  as  in  that  natural 
revelation  inscribed  on  the  face  of  the  universe,  we  should 
find  many  facts  which  it  is  difficult,  and  some  which  tran- 
scend the  utmost  powers  of  reason  to  explain.  The  enemies 
of  revealed  religion  examine,  w  ith  scrupulous  ingenuity,  eve- 
ry part  of  that  sacred  volume  which  contains  its  history  ;  and 
if  its  friends  are  not  able  to  solve  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  cap- 
tious philosophy,  all  the  questions  which,  either  the  obliquity 
of  ignorance,  or  the  perversity  of  genius  can  raise  upon  it, 
they  ftre  inclined  to  reject  the  whole  as  a  fable.  No  part  of 
the  whole  system,  perhaps,  has  been  exposed  to  bolder  in- 
quiries than  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  fall  of  man,  or  been 
treated  with  more  indecent  levity  than  the  test  of  his  obedi- 
ence proposed  by  divine  wisdom  in  the  fruit  of  the  forbid- 
den tree. 


292 

From  the  earliest  dawn  of  science,  the  speculations  of  phi- 
losophy have  been  employed,  vvilhout  being  able  to  arrive  at 
any  satisfactory  conclusions  on  the  subject,  lo  account  for 
the  introduction  of  evil  into  the  works  of  an  all-powerful, 
wise,  and  bertevolenf  Deity.  Revelation  has  proposed  only 
a  few  simple  facts  relative  to  if,  without  explicitly  unfolding 
the  inscrutable  relations  which  it  holds  to  the  purity  and  ho- 
liness of  the  divine  nature  ;  or  pointing  out  the  operations  of 
tie  human  mind  in  its  progress  from  innocence  to  guilt.  The 
first  parents  of  the  human  race,  had,  already,  the  law  of  na- 
ture written  on  their  hearts.  It  pleased  the  Creator,  how- 
ever, to  make  proof  of  their  constancy  and  perseverance  in 
practical  holiness,  by  an  appeal  to  the  great  principle  of  all 
duty,  which  consists  in  obedience  simply  to  the  will  of  God. 
For  this  purpose  it  was  requisite  to  impose  upon  the  conp 
science  some  positive  injunction;  that  is,  one  to  which  na 
natural  morality,  or  immorality  is  attached,  but  the  obligation 
to  which  rested  solely  upon  the  divine  comniand ;  without 
any  other  moral  consideration.  From  an  action  naturally 
immoral,  a  holy  nature  would  instinctively  shrink  ;  so  that  no 
temptation  from  that  quarter  could  be  made  to  reach  it.  But 
the  act  being  originally  inditferent,  the  mind  could  approach 
it  near  enough  to  contemplate  it  on  every  side  w  hence  an  in- 
sidious suggestion  could  be  thrown  in  to  induce,  for  a  mo- 
Dienl,  an  oblivion  of  the  authority  of  Heaven.  Here  would 
be  opened  a  field  in  which  the  tempter,  the  great  enemy  of 


293 

Ood  and  man,  might  please  himself  with  the  hope  of  operat- 
iog,  not  wholly  without  success. 

Accordingly,  the  subject  which  Divine  Wisdom  selected 
for  this  probation,  was  the  fruit  of  a  single  tree,  of  specious 
appearance,  which  alone  was  prohibited  to  man,  of  all  the  en- 
joyments furnished  by  the  whole  range  of  nature,  and  with 
this  solitary  exception,  freely  indulged  to  his  use.  This  se- 
lection has  afforded  abundant  matter  of  objection  to  igno- 
rance, and  of  sarcasm  to  wit.  Why  was  the  proof  of  human 
virtue,  it  is  asked,  and,  with  it,  the  most  important  conse- 
quence to  the  whole  family  of  mankind  suspended  on  an  ac- 
tion so  trivial,  if  not  contemptible,  to  use  their  own  phrase, 
as  the  eating  of  an  apple.-'  Why  was  it  not  rested  on  some 
prominent  precept,  at  least,  of  the  moral  code  ?  To  these 
inquiries  let  me  answer,  that  we  cannot,  in  all  cases,  and  that 
fre  can,  perhaps,  in  very  few,  enler  inio  the  reasons  of  the 
divine  conduct,  either  in  the  structure,  or  the  government  of 
the  universe.  In  the  present  instance,  however,  we  have  it 
in  our  power  to  propose  some  plausible  conjectures,  which 
may  furnish  suffirienJ  grounds  for  the  vindication,  if  not  the 
perfect  explanation  of  this  portion  of  the  divine  economy,  so 
little  capable  of  illustration  by  any  analogies  drawn  from  the 
affairs  of  men. 

This  subject  requires  that  we  should  not  pass  over  it  with 
a  slight  attention,  inasmuch  as  every  answer  which  can  be 


294 

clearly  given  to  the  minutest,  as  well  as  the  more  important 
objections  of  unbelievers,  is  shedding  some  light  on  the  cause 
of  divine  truth,  and  giving  additional  stability  to  its  founda- 
tions. 

In  the  first  place,  I  hope  to  demonstrate,  that  the  prohibi- 
tion made  to  the  parents  of  the  human  race,  for  the  probation 
of  their  innocence,  instead  of  being,  in  the  language  of  the 
objection,  of  a  mean  and  trivial  nature,  was  drawn  from  a  sub- 
ject which,  in  that  age,  held  the  highest  place  in  the  econ- 
omy of  human  life. 

In  the  next  place,  I  shall  shew  that,  at  that  time,  a  subject 
on  which  to  rest  this  trial,  could  hardly  have  been  taken  from 
a  different  class  of  objects. 

Those  who  affect  to  be  very  wise,  or  very  witty,  are  pleas- 
ed to  say,  with  all  the  contemptuousness  which  the  terms,  in, 
the  present  age,  obviously  imply,  that  Moses,  by  his  narra- 
tion, has  suspended  the  destinies  of  the  whole  human  race 
upon  the  eating  of  an  apple.  Let  us  seriously  examine  the 
truth  of  this  sneering  allegation,  and  inquire  into  the  nature 
of  that  act  by  which  Adam  forfeited  his  primitive  condition 
of  happiness  in  Paradise. 

It  is  uncertain  what  was  the  kind  of  this  fruit,  or  the  nature 
of  the  tree  which  bore  it.     It  is  probable  that  it  was  a  tree 


295 

entirely  singular  in  its  nature,  bearing  a  fruit  of  exquisite 
beauty  to  the  eye,  and  of  delightful  fragrance  and  flavour  to 
the  taste  and  smell.     It  received  its  denomination  of  the  tree 
of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  only  to  indicate  the  conse- 
quences of  tasting  its  fruit ;  that,  as  the  first  pair  had  hitherto 
known  only  good,  they  would,  by  that  act,  become  practi- 
cally acquainted  with  evil.     But,  in  order  to  a  proper  con- 
sideration of  this  action,  it  is  necessary  to  understand  that  the 
only  sustenance  of  human  life,  in  the  beginning,  was  derived 
from  the  spontaneous  fruits  of  the  garden,  and  its  principal  re- 
freshments from  their  cuoling  and  enlivening  juices.     The 
culture  of  grain  was  not  yet  practised,  nor  were  sacrifices,  at 
that  period,  drawn  from  the  fold.     The  virtue  of  temperance 
then,  which  constituted  the  chief  of  the  practical  virtues  of 
that  state,  must  have  had  respect  only  to  the  quantity,  or  the 
kinds  of  the  fruits  which  were  then  permitted,  and  used  for 
nourishment ;  particularly,  as  there  might  have  been,  in  the 
collections  of  that  primitive  garden,  some  species  possessing 
highly  exhilarating  qualities,  requiring  caution  in  their  use. — 
And  it  is  far  from  being  an  improbable  supposition,  that  the 
interdicted  tree  contained  a  liquor  of  intoxicating  strength, 
calculated  to  throw  all  the  fluids  of  the  human  body  into  un- 
natural tumults,  immediately  inciting  to  vice,  and  awaking  im- 
pure and  indecent  passions  ;  as  we  learn  from  the  shame , 
which  affected  our  great  ancestors,  as  soon  as  the  influence  of 
the  first  draught  had  somewhat  subsided.     And  it  is  no  less 
probable  that  it  possessed  properties  of  a  most  deleterious 


296 

nature,  which  infused  into  the  veins  an  insidious  poison,  in* 
ducing  that  mortal  tendency  to  corruption  in  the  whole  frame; 
to  which  it  fell  at  length  an  irremediable  victim. 

In  these  reflections  we  may  perceive,  I  presume,  a  founda* 
tion  laid  for  making  a  just  estimate  of  the  importance  of  the 
subject  which  was  chosen  as  the  original  test  of  man's  obedi- 
ence. The  fruits  of  the  garden  furnished  the  whole  subsist- 
ence of  human  life.  In  them  were  found  all  the  means  of  tem- 
perate enjoyment ;  and,  in  the  forbidden  tree,  at  least,  we  dis- 
cern what  was  equivalent  to  the  most  pernicious  viands  of  lux- 
ury and  intemperance.  No  subject  could  exist,  at  that  pe- 
riod, of  greater  moment,  for  the  trial  of  man's  integrity  and 
perseverance  in  the  principle  of  all  duty;  which  consists,  as 
has  before  been  said,  in  obedience  simply  to  the  will  of  God. 

I  proposed,  in  the  next  place,  to  shew  the  probability  that 
divine  wisdom  could  hardly  have  selected  a  subject  from  a 
different  class  of  objects,  on  which  this  trial  could  have  been 
rested.  It  has  already  been  suggested,  that  any  act  which 
should  have  involved  direct  impiety  of  aim,  or  indicated 
impurity  of  disposition,  would  have  been  so  immediately  re- 
volting to  a  holy  mind,  that  a  temptation  to  the  commission 
<^  it,  could  hardly,  for  a  single  moment,  have  entered  the 
mind,  or  been  entertained  there  with  favour.  And,  it  is  ob- 
vious, that  none  of  the  precepts  of  the  decalogue,  could  have 
afforded  any  grounds  for  being  made,  at  this  time,  a  test  of 


29r 

this  sublime  duty.     None  of  the  moral  relations  of  society, 
which  we  now  see  established  among  mankind,  could  then 
have  yielded  any  possible  occasion  to  transgression. — Let  us 
examine  them  singly.     Could  man,  for  example,  have  deni- 
ed the  existence  of  God,  or  have  profaned  his  holy  name,  or 
debased  his  nature  by  any  of  the  images  of  idolatry,  who 
daily  held  delightful  commerce  with  him  in  the  gardens  of  Pa« 
radise,  and  whose  works  were  shining  in  all  the  freshness  of 
their  glory  before  his  eyes,  in  the  recent  creation  ?    C  ould 
the  duty  of  children  to  their  parents  be  violated  by  him  who 
had  no  parent  but  God  ?    How  could  murder,  adultery,  or 
falsehood  in  rendering  testimony  exist,  where  no  subjecta 
were  found,  on  which  these  crimes  could  be  practised?    Or 
how  should  he  covet,  or  trespass  on  the  property  of  another, 
who  was  already  lord  of  the  whole  creation  ? — It  is  evident, 
from  these  inquiries,  that  none  of  the  moral  precepts  of  the 
law  could  have  been  selected  for   this    peculiar  trial.     It 
must  be  found  only  in  some  object  addressing,  exclusive- 
ly the  corporeal  appetites,  the  indulgence  of  which,  not  in- 
volving any  transgression  of  the  laws  of  nature,  would  not 
of  course,  awaken  any  suspicion,  or  call  up  any  extraordi- 
nary vigilance,  or  guard  against  the  access  of  temptation. 
The  restraint,  of  consequence,  which  this  command  imposed 
upon  Adam,  and  his  watchfulness  against  its  approach,  and 
the  whole  virtue  of  this  act,  was  obedience  simply  to  the  di- 
vine  rvilL — The  prohibition,   therefore,  could  affect  only 
certain  fruits  of  the  garden.     Within  the  compass  of  this 


298 

were  included  all  the  objects  which  could  minister  any  temp- 
tation to  man's  sensual  appetites.  From  it  alone  could  be 
diawn  any  trial  of  his  virtue,  in  the  circumstances  in  which 
he  was  placed.  And  among  all  its  fruits,  it  is  manifest  that 
none  was  more  proper  than  that  which  applied^o  strongly  to 
the  principle  of  curiosity  as  well  as  of  taste,  and  promised, 
at  the  same  time,  to  open  to  their  mistaken  imaginations,  a 
new  and  boundless  field  of  knowledge.  A  new  field  it  was, 
both  various  and  extensive,  to  those  who  had  hitherto  known 
only  good  :  but,  ah  !  how  miserable  when  their  fond  fancies 
came  to  be  blasted  by  the  fatal  experiment ! 

Of  these  circumstances,  the  great  enemy  of  God,  and  of 
human  happiness  made  his  advantage  to  accomplish  his  evil 
designs,  and,  by  insidious  steps,  to  approach  the  innocent 
mind  of  our  first  mother.  Direct  guilt  could  not  touch  her 
untainted  soul.  The  tempter,  therefore,  artfully  covered 
the  crime,  in  the  apparent  indifference  of  the  object ;  and  by 
his  specious  reasonings,  and  his  dangerous  example,  in  eat- 
ing before  her  eyes  of  the  same  fruit  without  injury,  led  her 
confused  and  conflicting  thoughts  to  the  utmost  verge  of  in- 
nocence. At  last,  her  ardent  thirst  of  knowledge,  when  she 
recollected  that  it  was  a  fruit  to  be  desired  to  make  one  wise^ 
urged  her,  in  the  tumults  of  her  mind,  to  yield  herself  up  to 
the  wiles  of  the  tempter,  and,  in  an  unhappy  moment,  to  pass 
the  now  imperceptible  limit  between  her  and  vice.  She  was 
surprized  by  the  artful  snares  which  had  been  laid  for  her ; 


299 

and,  without  being  conscious  of  her  state  at  first,  she  fell. — 
Intoxicated  by  the  imaginaiy  success  of  her  experiment, 
and,  at  the  same  time  perhaps,  by  the  powerful  juice  of  the 
fruit  which  she  had  just  eaten,  she  brought  a  portion  of  it  to 
her  husband,  and  adding  the  irresistible  force  of  her  persua- 
sions to  the  fascinating  charms  of  her  person,  he  yielded  to 
the  multiplied  temptationj  and  he  fell  with  her. 

Will  it  be  said  that,  if  this  picture  should  have  any  ere- 
dence  attached  to  it,  our  first  parents  appear  to  have  been 
the  victims  of  inadvertence  rather  than  of  guilt ;  their  vigi- 
lance was  surprized,  and  it  would  be  a  hard  measure  in  the 
Creator  to  involve  them  in  such  fatal  consequences  for  the 
inadvertence  of  a  moment  ?  Let  it  be  remembered,  that  no 
inadvertence,  or  surprize  can  form  a  just  apology  for  violat* 
ing  the  positive  command  of  God.  Let  us  further  reflect, 
that  it  is  the  certain  and  awful  order  of  the  moral  world,  that 
an  imprudence,  an  intermission  of  our  virtuous  vigilance,  an 
act  of  inconsiderate  folly,  is  often  the  cause  of  irreparable 
calamities.  Perhaps,  men  more  frequently  precipitate  them- 
selves into  ruin,  by  what  may  be  deemed  imprudence,  in 
the  beginning,  than  by  open  crime,  and  hardened  impiety. 

The  great  ancestors  of  our  race,  inexperienced  in  the  wiles 
of  sin,  had  now  arrived  at  the  consummation  of  that  fatal 
act  which  involved  themselves  and  their  whole  race  in  irre- 
trievable perdition.     And,  when  the  delirium,  created  by 


300 

that  mortal  juice,  had  subsided,  they  became  conscious,  for 
the  first  time,  that  they  had  forever  lost  the  favour  of  God 
their  Heavenly  Father.  They  dreaded  the  approach  of 
him  whom  they  had  so  often  met  with  confidence  and  joy, 
pouring  at  his  feet  the  grateful  homage  of  their  hearts. 
When  they  heard  the  accustomed  sign  of  his  drawing  near, 
they  fled  trembling  from  his  presence,  vainly  thinking  to  con- 
ceal themselves  among  the  trees  of  the  garden.  In  the  view 
of  one  another,  as  well  as  before  the  divine  majesty  they 
perceived  that  shame  which  is  the  disgraceful  efTect  of  sin, 
and  in  their  confusion,  they  attempted  to  cover  themselveg 
with  fig  leaves. — This  remarkable  fact  merits  particular  at- 
tention, as  conveying  a  striking  indication  of  the  moral  state 
of  their  minds,  and  perhaps  also  of  the  physical  influence  of 
the  fruit  which  they  had  eaten. 

The  nakedness  of  their  persons,  which,  in  the  period  of 
their  innocence,  had  never  aifected  them  with  any  emotion^ 
but  such  as  were  pure,  now  began  to  cover  them  with  con- 
scious blushes.  Was  it  that  the  glow  of  beauty,  and,  per- 
haps, of  a  celestial  radiance,  which  surrounded  the  primi- 
tive body  of  man,  was  now  lost,  and  the  deformity  of  a  fal- 
len nature  began  to  appear  ?  Or,  was  it  that,  formerly,  the 
sentiments  of  devotion,  of  friendship,  of  a  virtuous  tender- 
ness, of  a  sublime  sympathy,  of  a  high,  noble,  and  intelli- 
gent conversation  which  reigned  between  them,  so  occupied 
their  whole  souls  when  together,  that  every  pleasure  of  the 


«01 

senses  gave  only  a  gentle  heightening  to  the  most  pure  and 
refined  feelings  of  the  mind ;  but  now,  the  tumults  of  a  grosa 
passion  alone  filled  their  hearts,  always  shameful,  and,  in 
their  situation,  incapable  of  being  concealed,  or  subjected 
to  the  control  of  reason.  Perhaps  both  these  causes  con- 
curred to  produce  this  singular  incident  in  the  history  of  the 
Fall.  Their  nature  which  had  made  a  near  approach  to  the 
angelic,  was  now  sunk  into  a  near  resemblance  of  the  brutal ; 
and  as  yet  no  Saviour  had  been  announced  to  them,  to  tran- 
quilize  the  tumults  of  their  frame,  or  to  correct  the  violence 
of  their  passions. 

2.    THE  IMPORT  OF  THE  THREATENINtt. 

I  am,  in  the  next  place,  to  consider  the  full  implication  of 
the  threatening ; — In  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shall 
surely  die;  whence  we  may  deduce,  by  the  most  legitimate 
inference,  the  Life  which,  by  contrast  is  involved  in  the 
condition  of  obedience. 

This  denunciation  may  justly  be  supposed  to  pronounce 
the  immediate  dissolution  of  the  transgressor.  And  this  is 
the  meaning,  perhaps,  which  most  obviously  obtrudes  itself 
upon  the  mind  of  the  reader.  But  it  may  express,  merely, 
the  sentence  of  the  law,  pronounced  by  the  judge,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  the  criminal  is  considered  as  dead  to  so- 
ciety, and,  thenceforth,  held  in  rigorous  custody  till  the  pe- 


802 

riod  of  execution  appointed  by  the  supreme  authority,  arrive. 
If  the  latter  be  the  interpretation  of  this  awful  sfentenfte, 
which  is  supposed  by  the  greater  number  of  divines,  still 
such  a  change  must  have  immediately  passed  upon  the  bo- 
dies of  the  condemned,  that  the  powers  of  immortal  life  be- 
came instantly  extinguished,  and  the  seeds  of  death  began 
to  work  in  their  living  members.  And  the  corporeal  princi- 
ples, among  which  are  those  powerful  agents,  the  appetites 
and  passions,  must,  from  the  intimate  alliance  which  sub- 
sists between  the  different  parts  of  our  nature,  have  extend- 
ed their  taint  through  the  whole  system,  mental  as  well  as 
bodily.  The  terms  of  this  sentence,  therefore,  include  the 
moral  death  of  the  soul,  which,  without  the  provision  of  the 
gospel,  must  adhere  to  it  while  its  being  endures.  In  these 
leflections  we  recognize  the  extent  of  that  death  temporal, 
spiritual,  and  eternal,  which,  according  to  our  standards,  was 
included  in  the  denunciation  on  our  first  parents. 

OF  THE  ORIGINAL  IMMORTALITV  OF    OUR  FIRST  PARENTS. 

The  opinion  of  those  who  would  subject  Adam  to  imme- 
diate death,  in  consequence  of  his  transgression,  I  will  pre- 
sent to  you,  after  having  taken  a  view  of  his  representative 
character.  In  the  mean  time,  it  is  obvious  to  remark,  that 
this  denunciation  must  imply  that,  in  a  contrary  event,  man 
would  have  existed  forever  in  a  state  of  holiness  and  happi- 
ness, nor  have  been  liable  to  the  corruptions  of  a  mortal  bo- 


303 

dy,  and  Ihe  pains  of  dissolution.  A  question  has  arisen,  in 
consequence,  among  divines ;  whether  man  would  have  con- 
tinued his  immortal  being  upon  the  earth,  or  have  been  trans- 
lated, without  pain,  and,  perhaps,  with  some  high  improve- 
ment of  his  nature,  to  a  superior  state  of  existence  ?  But,  as 
God  has  not  been  pleased  to  make  any  revelation  of  his  will 
upon  this  subject,  the  inquiry  would  be  fruitless ;  and,  to 
propose  any  conjectures  concerning  it  would  indicate  an  un- 
licensed boldness  of  fancy,  equally  arrogant  and  vain.  The 
enemies  of  revelation,  indeed,  have  denied  the  possibility  of 
the  fact,  that  man  should  be  immortal.  The  human  consti- 
tution is  said  necessarily  to  tend  to  decay.  The  nerves  by 
their  very  structure,  although  no  disease  should  attack  them, 
become  rigid  by  age,  and  lose  that  elasticity  which  is  requi- 
site to  carry  on  the  functions  of  animal  life. — This  is  judg- 
ing of  man  before  the  fall,  by  the  ruins  of  his  nature  since 
that  fatal  event.  There  are  different  species  of  organized 
matter,  which  seem  calculated  to  endure  forever,  if  not  at- 
tacked by  extraneous  violence ;  to  instance  only  in  the  dia- 
mond ; — And  why  might  not  the  substance  of  the  human 
frame  have  been  so  modified  as  to  be  fitted  for  eternal  dura- 
tion, or  that  its  changes  should  lead  only  to  still  increasing 
perfection  ?  Some  great  and  essential  change  has  evidently 
taken  place,  not  only  in  man,  but  in  all  animals,  and  in  the 
whole  system  of  nature,  intended  to  demonstrate  the  dig- 
pleasure  of  Almighty  God  at  that  sin  which  lias  spread  its 
baleful  efiects  over  the  entire  face  of  tlio  world.     Tlw  beasts? 


304 

which,  at  first,  onlj  innocently  cropped  the  green  herbage, 
became,  in  many  cases,  the  devourers  of  one  another. 
And  the  soil,  which,  in  the  beginning  was  fertile  and  beauti' 
ful,  and  yielded  a  copious  harvest  of  fruits  to  an  easy  and 
delightful  Culture,  became  sterile  and  deformed,  and  hardly 
afforded  a  scanty  subsistence  to  the  sweat  and  labour  of  ite 
guilty  possessor. 

OF  THE  REPRESENTATIVE  CHARACTER  OF  ADAM. 

Upon  this  history  a  natural,  and  important  inquiry  arises, 
whether  the  trial  imposed  upon  Adam,  respected  his  own 
stability  in  this  holy  state  exclusively,  according  to  the  opin- 
ion of  some  writers,  or  whether,  according  to  the  better 
opinion  of  the  great  majority  of  christians,  his  posterity  were 
involved  with  him  in  its  consequences ;  and  whether  we  do 
not  see,  in  his  defection,  the  true  source,  not  only  of  the 
mortality,  but  of  all  the  calamities  which  have  overwhelmed 
human  nature  ?  On  this  subject  the  sacred  scriptures  in- 
struct us  in  the  most  explicit  terms.  "  In  Adam  all  die. 
By  one  man,  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin ; 
so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned."  In 
this  last  expression  there  seems  to  be  a  small  inaccuracy  in 
the  translation,  which  is  calculated  to  lead  the  incautious 
reader  into  the  opinion  that  death  is  the  penal  consequence  of 
the  individual  act  of  every  sinner  ;  thereby  transferring  the 
cause  of  our  mortality,  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  the  scrip- 


305 

tares,  from  the  crime  of  the  Covenant-Head  of  the  race  to 
each  man's  personal  transgression.  The  immediale  and 
proximate  cause  of  this  fatal  and  universal  catastrophe  to 
Adam,  and  all  his  descendants,  was  the  depravation  of  hifS 
nature,  by  the  first  act  of  sin,  thereby  impairing,  and  tend- 
ing finally  to  destroy  all  the  principles  of  life.  This  order 
of  things  is  essentially  connected  with  the  established,  and 
immutable  laws  of  the  universe,  in  consequence  of  which  a 
depraved  and  perishing  offspring  necessarily  springs  from  a 
corrupted  stock.  The  version  of  this  passage,  therefore, 
would  be  better  amended, — "  so  death  passed  upon  all  men, 
because  that  all  in  him  have  become  subject  to  the  effects  of 
his  sin ;"  that  is,  to  that  depravation  of  nature  which  renders 
them  liable  to  death,  and  utterly  incapable  of  eternal  life; 
except  through  the  Second  Adam,  who,  by  his  death,  has 
opened  to  the  transgressor  the  way  for  repentance,  and  the 
obedience  of  a  New-Covenant. 

OF  THE  JUSTICE  OF  THIS  INSTITCTIOEf. 

If  the  enemies  of  our  holy  religion  demand  the  justice  of 
this  order  which  subjects  a  rational,  and  moral  being  to  an 
hereditary  depravity  ?  I  answer,  that  this  is  not  an  objection 
which  peculiarly  affects  revelation.  It  is  a  difficulty  equal- 
ly in  the  religion  of  nature,  and  the  philosophy  of  the  uni-' 
verse.     We  cannot  be  fairly  required  to  explain  the  secret 

operations  of  the  laws  of  nature,  which  are  known  only  to 

fl9 


306 

God,  and  to  account  for  their  wisdom,  and  their  equity. 
Thus  far  the  fact  is  open  to  our  inspection ;  that  man,  who 
has  become  mortal,  can  transmit  only  a  mortal  constitution 
to  his  offspring.  By  the  same  laws,  if  his  appetites,  and 
passions  have  become  disordered  by  sin,  the  same  tenden- 
cies exhibit  themselves  in  all  those  who  spring  from  his  loins. 
The  corporeal  temperament  of  the  parent,  and,  frequently, 
the  faculties  of  his  mind,  we  see  renewed  in  his  posterity. 
It  is  in  vain  to  remonstrate  against  the  injustice  of  this  order. 
The  fact  exists.  And  shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth 
do  right  ?  In  reasoning  from  facts  we  must  confess  that  the 
corruption  of  human  nature  must  infallibly  grow  out  of  the 
established  laws  for  the  propagation  of  animal  existence. 
No  impeachment,  therefore,  can  justly  be  moved  against  the 
holy  scriptures  which,  having  exhibited  the  transaction  with 
our  primitive  parent  under  the  form  of  a  covenant,  have  plac- 
ed him  at  the  head  of  his  race,  as  their  natural  and  moral 
representative.  For,  according  to  this  eternal  constitution, 
conformably  with  his  virtue,  or  his  vice,  that  is,  his  stand- 
ing, or  his  fall,  must  have  been  the  consequences  on  his  pos- 
terity. "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death 
by  sin ;  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  because  in  him  all 
have  sinned,"  and  become  subject  to  his  depraved,  and 
mortal  nature. 


3or 


OF  THE  BENIGNITY  OF  THIS  ORDINANCE. 

Those  who  are  unfriendly  to  our  doctrine  demand,  where 
would  be  the  benignity  of  the  Creator,  in  calling  into  exis- 
tence a  whole  race  of  beings,  and,  at  the  same  time,  sub- 
jecting their  eternal  destiny  to  the  voluntary  act  of  a  frail, 
though  innocent  creature  ?  And  an  appearance  of  severity 
it  certainly  would  have,  if  it  had  not  been  his  most  merciful 
purpose,  annulling  the  condition  of  the  first  covenant,  now 
rendered  impracticable  by  the  Fall,  to  dispose  the  humbled 
and  lost  father  of  the  race,  and  his  whole  offspring,  immedi- 
ately under  the  protection  and  grace  of  the  Second  Adam, 
and  the  blessings  of  a  new  covenant,  established  on  better 
promises^  enriched  with  more  glorious  hopes,  and  resting  on 
a  more  perfect  security  in  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  And 
it  is  not  an  improbable  opinion  of  many  wise  and  good  men, 
that  the  condition  of  the  human  family,  under  this  dispensa- 
tion, is  much  to  be  preferred  to  that  which  would  have  ex- 
isted under  the  most  favourable  operation  of  the  first.  The 
displays  of  the  divine  nature  have  been  more  glorious,  the 
riches  and  consolations  of  the  divine  mercy  have  been  more 
precious,  the  joys  of  eternal  life  more  exalted,  and  trium- 
phant. Yet,  to  this  illustrious  exhibition  of  divine  grace 
the  fall  of  human  nature,  in  the  unsearchable  wisdom  of 
God,  became  the  necessary  introduction.  Its  richest  glory 
arises  out  of  its  deepest  humiliation. 


30ft 


OF  THE  OPINfOff  THAT  DEATH  WAS  DEffOUNCED   TO    TAKE 
PLACE  ON  THE  DAY  OF  THE  FALL. 

Another  interpretation  of  this  awful  sanction,— /n  the  day 
thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die,  which  is  more  lite- 
ral than  the  former,  and  which  limits  the  execution  of  the  sen- 
tence to  the  day  of  the  transgression,  merits  our  particular 
consideration,  at  once,  from  its  simplicity,  and  its  obvious 
conformity  to  the  letter  of  the  law.  On  this  interpretation, 
Adam,  under  his  original  covenant,  conld  not  possibly  have 
had  posterity.  Nor  is  it  probable  that,  if  he  had  been  per- 
mitted fo  live  for  a  season,  he  could,  without  a  new  covenant^ 
giving  him  the  hope  of  life,  have  had  any  offspring,  while 
precariously  existing  under  the  momentary,  and  overwhelm- 
ing  apprehensions  of  death.  But  the  whole  scene  was  chang- 
ed by  the  promise  of  a  Saviour,  in  these  mysterious  words, 
the  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the  serpenVs  head,  whick 
hold  out  to  our  afflicted  father  the  final  destruction  of  the 
power  of  evil,  and  offer  to  his  hopes  the  most  illustrious  dis- 
plays of  divine  mercy  and  grace.  Immediately  we  perceive 
the  first  fruits  of  this  gracious  promise  upon  our  first  pa- 
rents; and  Adam,  in  the  hope  of  a  numerous  progeny, 
which  was  extinguished  with  the  loss  of  his  own  existence, 
called  the  name  of  bis  wife,  in  the  moment  of  his  exulta- 
tion, Eve,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  Chavah;  because 
pow  he  was  assured  that  she  was  to  becouie  the  mother  of 


309 

{L  living  rtfc«.— Though  raised  to  better  hopes,  yet  pot* 
sessing  ooly  a  depraved  and  fallen  nature,  he  could  im* 
part  no  other  to  his  offspring.  All,  therefore,  are  born  under 
sin.  But  inasmuch  as,  without  a  Mediator,  and  a  new  cove- 
nant, none  would  have  received  existence,  all  who  now  are 
permitted  to  come  into  the  world,  enter  it  under  the  protec- 
tion of  this  glorious  Saviour  ;  and,  accordingly  we  see  them 
in  the  seals  of  this  gracious  covenant,  in  the  church,  met 
with  the  offered  blessings  of  the  righteousness  of  faith.* 
Hence  life  and  immortality  are  proposed  to  all,  not,  as  un- 
der the  original  covenant  with  Adam,  to  perfect  obedience ; 
but,  through  a  Mediator,  to  sincere  repentance,  and  evange- 
lic obedience. 

OP  THE  IMPORT  OP  THE  TREE  OF  KNOWLEDGE,  AND 
THE  TREE  OF  LIFE. 

The  last  inquiry,  proposed  under  this  head,  was  to  ascer- 
tain the  purpose  and  meaning  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil,  and  the  tree  of  life.  Of  the  former,  little 
question  can  e\.Ut.  The  fruit  of  that  tree  was  designed  to 
form  the  test  of  the  obedience  of  man.  And  its  denomination 
was  manifestly  derived  from  its  destination :  for,  Adam,  who, 
at  first,  had  been  acquainted  only  with  good,  became,  from 
tasting  its  fruit,  most  fatally  sensible  of  evil.     The  act  in- 

*=  See  this  principle  more  explicitly  stated  under  the  article  of  baplisTn. 


310 

troduced  into  his  soul  the  afflicting  consciousness  of  guilt, 
and  the  fatal  daring  of  disobedience,  once  become  familiar, 
perverted  all  his  powers,  and  emboldened  his  sinful  passions 
to  farther  transgressions.  It  threw  the  principles  of  duty 
headlong  from  their  throne,  and  raised  to  the  forsaken  seat, 
all  the  irregular  affections,  and  violent  impulses  of  a  deprav- 
ed nature.  This  moral  death  of  the  soul  was,  at  the  same 
time,  conjoined  with  the  decay  of  all  the  powers  of  the  bo- 
dy, and  the  corruption  of  the  principles  of  animal  life.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  by  no  means  an  improbable  conjecture, 
that  the  tree  of  life  possessed  a  health  giving,  and  renovat- 
ing quality,  which  added  a  vital  stimulus  to  the  corporeal 
powers ;  but  that  the  forbidden  fruit,  besides  its  intoxicating 
power,  which  has  before  been  suggested,  contained,  like- 
wise, a  deleterious  spirit  which  instantly  diffused  a  slow 
consuming  poison  through  all  the  veins,  and  introduced  the 
principles  of  disease  and  death  into  the  human  frame. 

Many  respectable  writers  have  believed  that  this  life  giv- 
ing tree  was  placed  in  the  garden  as  the  symbol  of  immor- 
tality to  this  innocent  pair,  as  long  as  they  should  persevere 
in  their  duty ;  and  probably  a  sacramental  sign  of  the  stead- 
fastness of  the  covenant,  to  be  ever  before  their  eyes,  to  en- 
courage their  joyful  hopes,  and  to  awaken  their  ardent  de- 
votion. 


311 


OF  THE  Il^TRODUCTION  OF    SIN  INTO  THE  WORKS  OP    GOD. 

Before  I  proceed  to  treat  of  the  consequences  of  the  Fall, 
either  upon  the  parents,  or  the  entire  family  of  the  human 
race,  it  will  not,  I  hope,  be  deemed  improper  to  introduce 
a  speculative  question  which,  has  been  found  to  occupy, 
with  much  solicitude,  the  minds  of  men ;  and  is  often,  by 
the  enemies  of  revelation,  made  the  occasion  of  casting  re- 
proach upon  its  doctrines.  I  introduce  it,  however,  not  with 
the  presumption  of  being  able  satisfactorily  to  resolve  to  the 
minds  of  all,  the  difficulties  with  which  it  is  embarrassed; 
but  with  the  humbler  hope  of  inducing  unmurmuring  sub- 
mission to  the  will  of  God,  whose  decrees  transcend  the  in- 
vestigations of  reason. — Why  did  the  infinite  Creator,  whose 
power  and  wisdom,  can  accomplish  all  his  will,  without  en- 
croaching on  the  peculiar  prerogatives  of  human  nature,  per- 
mit the  introduction  of  sin  into  his  works?  Why  should 
moral  and  natural  evil  form  a  part  of  the  system,  conceived 
by  the  Infinite  Mind,  for  the  administration  of  this  world? 
Or  how  could  sin  exist  in  the  universe,  in  which  we  confess 
that  all  things  depend  solely  upon  his  will,  without  imputing 
to  him  such  an  agency  in  the  event  as  to  palliate,  at  least,  if 
not  entirely  excuse  the  transgression  of  the  sinner  ? — It  is 
doubtless  gross  impiety  to  ascribe  iniquity  to  God,  as  its  au- 
thor, or  to  impute  any  indirect  influence  over  the  human 
mind  to  the  Most  Holy,  inconsistent  with  the  purity  of  his 


312 

nature.  For,  throughout  the  holy  scriptures,  his  extreme 
abhorrence  of  sin,  and  his  inflexible  determination  to  punish 
it,  is  expressed  in  the  strongest  terms ;  but  candour  must 
compel  every  wise  man  to  confess  the  difficulty  of  account- 
ing for  its  permission ;  and,  above  all,  for  its  entering  for  &• 
large  a  portion  into  the  plans  of  the  Sovereign  Wisdom. 

Some  writers  maintain  the  principle,  that  the  existence  of 
sin  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  freedom  of  action.  The 
principle  is  at  least  incautiously  expressed.  No  inevitable 
connexion  surely  exists  between  liberty  and  criminality; 
otherwise,  our  freedom  would  be  a  pernicious  gift. — It  would 
be  a  more  certain  proposition,  but  would  contribute  little  to 
satisfy  the  inquisitive  mind,  that  the  possibility  of  crime 
must  be  connected  with  perfect  freedom  of  volition  and  ac- 
tion :  it  is  not,  therefore,  surprising  that,  in  any  one  instance, 
the  possibility  should  be  converted  into  fact.  A  solution 
this  which  is  abundantly  sufficient  to  those  who  deny  the 
decrees  of  God ;  but  to  those  who  believe  that  the  decrees 
extend  to  every  part  of  nature,  and  embrace  the  minutest 
actions  of  the  mind,  silence  and  submission  is  the  truest 
wisdom. 

OP  THE  OPINION  OF  LEIBNITZ. 

Some  German  metaphysicians,  especially  the  disciples  of 
the  school  of  Leibnitz,  hare  adopted  a  theory  peculiar  to 


.m 


313 

themselves ;  that  evil  is  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  the 
universe;  as  necessary,  to  use  their  own  sirnilitude,  as 
shades  to  the  beauty  of  a  picture  This  fine  maxim  of  the 
imagination,  is  certainly  dependent  on  a  theory  of  very  ques- 
tionable truth  ;  or  rather  is  contradicted  by  the  soundest  dic- 
tates of  reason. — Their  great  dogma,  which  solves  to  them 
all  difficulties,  in  physics,  and  in  morals,  is,  that  all  the  good 
which  can  possibly  exist  in  the  universe,  and  the  whole  per- 
fection, in  both  orders  of  being,  which  can  possibly  proceed 
from  the  wisdom  and  the  power  of  the  Omnipotent  is  to  be 
seen  in  his  works.  What  does  not  exist  is  impossible. — 
This  principle  is  bringing  back  the  absurd  Fate  of  the  Sto- 
ics, and  subjecting  the  Deity  himself  to  the  chains  of  ne- 
cessity.— I  must  be  permitted  to  observe  on  this  whole  ques- 
tion, that  it  presents  to  our  reason  one  of  those  inscrutable 
subjects,  on  which  it  is  wise,  in  the  present  state,  to  repose 
submissively  on  the  wisdom  of  God  ;  resolving  what  we  can- 
not explain,  into  his  sovereign  will,  and  the  unsearchable 
counsels  of  his  understanding.  Revelation,  however,  in- 
forms us  that  he  will  turn  this  disastrous  event  to  subserve 
the  noblest  ends  in  the  universe, — the  illustration  of  his  good- 
ness, his  Qiercy,  and  his  justice,  in  the  exaltation  of  his  Son, 
so  as  to  render  the  new  creation  more  glorious  than  Eden. 


40 


314 


OF  THE  SERPENT  AND  THE  TEMPTATION. 

Of  the  duration  of  the  state  of  innocence,  no  facts  are  pre- 
sented to  us  from  which  any  certain  estimate  can  be  formed. 
Nor  have  we  any  means  of  judging  in  what  manner  the  temp- 
tation was  addressed  by  the  serpent,  to  our  primitive  mother. 
Many  frivolous  fancies  have  been  uttered  concerning  the 
species  of  serpent,  whose  form  the  tempter  assumed ;  all  of 
them,  probably,  without  sufficiently  adverting  to  the  effects 
of  the  curse  on  the  whole  creation,  and  on  the  change,  par- 
ticularly, which  must  have  passed  on  the  forms  and  qualities 
of  the  animal  tribes. 

That  the  whole  history  of  this  most  Important  of  human 
transactions,  is  according  to  the  opinion  of  some  respectable 
writers,  a  mere  allegorical  fable,  depicting  in  figure  this  truth, 
that  the  fascinations  of  vice  deceived  and  seduced  our  first 
parents,  appears  to  have  no  support  in  the  language  in  which 
the  narration  is  conveyed  to  us.  The  images  of  hieroglyphic, 
out  of  which  this  divine  fable  is  supposed  to  be  constructed, 
could  originally  have  been  drawn  only  from  actual  types, 
that  is,  from  historical  facts.  And  the  serpentine  hiero- 
glyphic of  eloquence,  wit,  and  cunning,  used  at  first,  by  the 
Egyptian  priests,  and  supposed  to  be  here  employed,  has 
every  appearance  of  being  itself  borrowed  from  the  fact  which 
took  place  in  Paradise.     From  the  same  fact,  the  prince  of 


315 

evil  spirits,  has  received,  in  the  holy  scriptures,  his  figura- 
tive denomination  of  the  Old  Serpent ;  and,  among  the  hea- 
then, the  emblematic  wand  of  mercury  seems  to  have  had  a 
similar  origin.  The  denunciation  pronounced  upon  that  rep- 
tile, upon  thy  belly  shall  thou  go,  and  dust  shall  thou  eat, 
has,  obviously,  a  reference  to  some  transmutation  passed  up- 
on his  form,  and  his  manner  of  moving  and  subsistence,  de- 
signed by  God  to  be  emblematic  of  the  humiliation,  and  the 
degraded  state  into  which  his  arts  had  reduced  the  parents, 
and  the  whole  race  of  man. 

FRAGMENTS    OF  THIS  HISTORY  FOUND  IN  THE  TRADITIONS 
AND  FABLES  OF  ALL  THE  EARLIEST  NA- 
TIONS  OF  ANTIQUITV 

It  is  an  inquiry  which  will  naturally  suggest  itself  both  to 
the  friends,  and  the  enemies  of  revelation — have  any  vestiges 
of  a  fact  so  unspeakably  important  to  human  kind,  been 
found  among  the  historical  or  mythological  monuments  of  the 
most  ancient  pagan  nations  ?  If  true,  would  not  some  tradi- 
tion of  it  have  naturally  been  preserved  in  the  fables  of  every 
people  so  lately  descended  from  the  common  head  of  the 
race.  And  several  eminent  and  learned  writers  have  be- 
stowed no  small  pains  in  comparing  the  traditions  and  my- 
thological fables  of  antiquity  with  the  Mosaic  history,  whence 
they  have  been  thought  to  have  derived  a  testimony  of  no 
inconsiderable  authority  to  the  authenticity  and  truth  of  the 


K}^^ 

It' 


316 

sacred  record.  All  who  are  in  the  least  conversant  with  an- 
cient learning,  are  familiar  with  the  fables  of  the  golden  and 
the  iron  age,  which  are  nothing  more  than  the  allegorical  dress 
in  which  the  poels  have  chosen  to  clothe  the  earliest  history 
of  mankind.  The  doctrine  of  the  primitive  innocence,  and 
fall  of  man,  the  travellers,  and  philosophers  of  Greece  receiv- 
ed from  Egypt,  and  the  East,  along  with  their  arts  and  scien- 
ces almost  with  the  first  existence  of  the  nation.  In  the 
Egyptian  mythology,  particularly,  we  recognize  the  original 
innocence  of  man  in  the  happy  reign  of  Osiris  over  the 
world.  His  fall  is  depicted  in  the  ravages  of  Typhon,  their 
great  and  wicked  Demon,  or  principle  of  Evil.  And,  last- 
ly, we  discover  the  promise  of  a  Saviour,  in  the  prediction 
of  the  resurrection  and  eternal  life  of  Osiris,  when  he  will 
triumph  over  the  power  of  evil,  and  restore  universal  peace 
and  happiness  to  the  world.* 

The  Magians  of  Persia  believed  in  their  enigmatical  sys- 
tem of  the  egg  of  the  world,  which,  at  first,  was  shining  and 
transput  ent,  till  broken  by  Ahriman,  the  Power  of  Evil, 
when  happiness  became  every  where  confounded  with  mise- 
ry. I  have  formerly  spoken  of  the  doctrine  of  the  ancient 
Bramins  of  India,  and  its  striking  similarity,  in  (his  particular, 
to  the  history  of  Moses.  I  have  there  also  referred  to  the 
representations  of  (he  catholic  missionaries,  so  long  resident 


*■  Jhe  trairels  of  Cyrus,  by  the  Chevalier  Ramsay. 


317 

U)  the  empire  of  China.*  And  it  merits  particular  observa- 
tion, that  the  traditions  of  the  most  ancient  nations,  the  high- 
er thej  go  up  towards  the  origin  of  time,  bear  the  stronger 
resemblance  to  the  facts  of  the  sacred  history.  Nor  ought 
this  to  appear  surprising,  since  all  nations,  as  the  scriptures 
assure  us,  have  sprung  from  one  common  parent  after  the 
deluge.  The  nearer,  therefore,  they  carry  their  history  to 
its  source,  the  more  ought  we  to  expect,  what  we  actually 
6nd,  some  coincidence  in  its  facts  with  those  recorded  in 
Moses.  And  those  holy  writings  evidently  lead  us  to  the 
genuine  fountain  whence  all  their  mythological  streams 
have  flowed,  more  or  less  pure  or  adulterated,  in  proportion 
as  they  approach,  or  recede  from,  the  beginning  of  time. 
And  so  many  striking,  and  undesigned  resemblances  afford  a 
testimony  of  no  slight  value  to  the  authenticity  of  the  divine 
historian. 

THE  IMMEDIATE  EFFECT   OF  THE  FALL  ON  OUR  FIRST 
PARENTS. 

Before  concluding  this  article,  it  will  be  requisite  to  con- 
aider  the  immediate  effects  of  the  Fall  upon  our  first  parents, 
as  well  as  its  consequent  influence  upon  their  whole  posteri- 
ty.    On  the  former,  it  is  manifest,  from  the  testimony  of  the 


*  On  the  evidences  of  religion.     TJie  coiocidences  of  the  traditione  of  the  an- 
cient nations  wild  the  sacred  history. 


318 

holy  scriptures,  that  the  judgments  of  God  become  almost 
instantaneously  visible.  They  lost  the  image  of  God  in 
which  they  had  been  created. — In  their  persons  they  suffer- 
ed a  lamentable  change,  by  which  their  native  beauty  was 
deformed ;  and  their  nature,  which  had  been  constituted  im- 
mortal, became  liable  to  pain,  disease,  and  the  gradual  ap- 
proaches of  death.  They  were  condemned  to  leave  the  gar- 
den of  their  original  pleasures,  in  which  they  had  so  happi- 
ly lived  on  the  spontaneous  fruits  of  the  soil,  and  to  labour 
in  the  earth  rendered  hard  and  sterile  by  the  curse. — For  the 
first  time,  they  perceived  the  fears,  and  compunctions  of  a 
guilty  conscience ;  and,  instead  of  the  pure  and  tranquil  de- 
lights of  virtue  and  piety,  they  became  sensible  only  of  the 
turbulence  of  sinful  passions.  One  example  of  these  pre- 
sents to  us  a  picture  of  some  singularity.  "  The  eyes  of 
them  both,"  it  is  said,  "were  opened,  and  they  knew  that 
they  were  naked ;  and  they  sewed  fig  leaves  together,  and 
made  themselves  aprons."  From  these  facts  it  appears  that 
they  were  then  first  sensible  of  that  shame  which  naturally 
arises  in  the  mind  conscious  of  improper  and  corrupt  emo- 
tions, in  viewing  the  nakedness  of  the  person.  Perhaps  in 
the  change  which  passed  upon  them,  they  perceived  a  de- 
formity in  their  bodies  which  before  had  never  struck  their 
eyes,  which  probably,  in  their  original  condition,  had  not  ex- 
isted. But  this  sudden  and  mortifying  sentiment  of  shame, 
as  I  have  before  suggested,  may  have  taken  its  origin  chiefly 
from  their  being  then  first  conscious  of  the  emotions  of  lust, 


319 

and  being  in  such  a  state,  that  they  could  not,  at  all  times, 
conceal  the  disgraceful  effect,  except  by  such  an  arti6ce  as 
that  to  which  they  now  had  recourse.  The  sense  of  shame, 
in  consequence  of  lustful  emotion,  where  it  is  not  utterly  ex- 
tinguished by  the  violence  of  desire,  or  the  force  of  deprav- 
ed habit,  involuntarily  arises  at  all  the  visible  indications  of 
this  gross  passion,  and  at  every  object,  exciting  to  it,  pre- 
sented to  the  senses,  or  the  fancy.  And  in  this,  as  in  other 
subjects,  we  recognise  the  force  of  nature  in  the  new  fallen 
pair. 

OF  THE  REPENTANCE  OP  OUR  FIRST  PARENTS. 

Of  the  repentance  of  this  unhappy  pair  after  their  lamen- 
table fall,  nothing  is  distinctly  transmitted  to  us  in  the  con- 
cise narration  of  Moses.  But  there  is  the  strongest  reason 
to  presume  that  their  penitence  followed  the  promise  given 
by  God  to  console  them  in  their  affliction  ; — that  the  seed  of 
the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpenVs  head,  and  thus  destroy 
the  Power  of  Evil ;  delivering  her  offspring  by  this  act, 
from  the  dominion  of  sin,  and  death.  And,  in  the  highest 
degree  probable  it  is,  that  the  God,  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  in  the  midst  of  his  righteous  judg- 
ments on  their  transgression,  still  bestowed  on  them  the  most 
gracious  and  paternal  care,  in  his  provisions  for  their  tempo- 
ral comfort,  and  who,  in  their  humbled  state,  still  deigned 
to  them  his  heavenly  communications  in  the  field,  or  at  the 


320 

altar,  would  not  b6  deaf  to  the  cries  of  their  misery,  and 
their  penitent  sorrows. 

Hardly,  however,  do  these  gloomy  writers,  who  have  dar- 
ed to  presume  that  these  afflicted  parents,  in  the  midst  of 
the  wreck,  and  the  rescue  of  their  race,  themselves  perish- 
ed without  the  mercy  of  that  Saviour  who  had  been  recent- 
ly promised  to  them,  merit  even  this  notice  of  an  uncharita- 
ble opinion,  which  is  not  supported  by  the  least  authority 
from  the  holy  scriptures. 

OF  THE  EFFECTS  OF  THE  FALL  ON  THE  WHOLE 
POSTERITY  OF  ADAM. 

The  plain  and  explicit  testimony  of  the  sacred  writings 
teaches,  that  the  state  of  sinfulness  and  misery,  in  which  it 
is  visible  that  human  nature  exists,  is  at  once  the  fruit,  and 
the  punishment  of  the  transgression  of  the  great  head,  and 
representative  of  the  human  family.  No  testimony  can  be 
more  clear  and  decisive  on  the  subject  than  the  declaration 
of  the  apostle  Paul  in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans. — "  By  one 
man,  sin  entered  into  the  world ;  and  death  by  sin,  so  death 
passed  upon  all  men,  inasmuch  as  all  in  him  have  partaken 
of  the  same  depraved  and  sinful  nature."  The  principal 
evil,  and  the  source  of  all  the  other  evils  which  result  to 
mankind  from  the  original  transgression  of  our  father  is,  not 
only  the  tendency  of  our  bodies  to  decay,  but  the  "  moral 


'i 


321 

corruption  with  which  all  men  are  now  born  into  the  world." 
—The  existence  of  a  depraved  nature  in  man  has  been  made 
the  subject  of  ardent,  and  too  often  acrimonious  controver- 
sies in  the  christian  church.  The  Sociuians  and  even  the 
Arminians,  probably  mistaking  the  true  meaning  and  extent 
of  the  proposition  which  asserts  the  original  sinfulness  and 
depravity  of  human  nature,  deny  that  we  inherit  from  Adam 
any  evil  except  that  of  pain  and  death.  These  writers,  in- 
deed, confess  the  tendency  of  mankind  to  moral  rvrong  in 
many  of  their  earliest  acts.  Yet,  they  refuse  to  admit  the 
federal,  or  representative  character  of  our  primitive  parent 
in  the  covenant  of  works.  But  all  the  orthodox  symbols 
and  confessions,  from  the  first  ages,  maintain  that  "  the  co- 
venant was  made  with  him,  not  only  for  himself,  but  for  all 
his  posterity,  who,  consequently,  sinned  in  him,  and  fell 
with  him  in  his  first  transgression."*  I  must  remark  here, 
that  those  who  believe  that  the  penalty  of  the  covenant  was 
ordained  to  be  inflicted  on  the  day  of  the  Fall,  must  use  a 
language  somewhat  different,  but  the  consequence  becomes 
eventually  the  same,  the  inheritance  by  his  offspring,  of  a 
constitution  corrupted  by  the  principles  of  death  and  sin. 
For  this,  as  we  have  before  seen,  is  an  universal  law  of  na- 
ture affecting  the  descent  of  posterity  ; — the  scion  must  par- 
take of  the  stock. 


*  Every  thing  desprvin?  attenMon  on  this  subject,  will  bo  found  in  President 
Edwards  on  Original  Sin,  and  his  antagonist  Dr.  Taylor. 


322 

To  men  who  have  not  a  favourite  theory  to  support,  de- 
rived from  an  erring  reason,  rather  than  the  word  of  God, 
the  holy  scriptures  teach,  in  the  most  unequivocal  language, 
the  doctrine  of  original  sin;  that  is,  that,  by  derivation 
from  an  unholy  original,  we  are  born  prone  to  sin,  and  ali- 
enated from  the  "  life  of  God,  through  the  ignorance  that  is 
in  us,  because  of  the  blindness  of  our  hearts."  "  Behold,  I 
was  shapen  in  iniquity,"  saith  the  psalmist,  "and  in  sin  did 
my  mother  conceive  me."  "  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh," 
saith  our  Saviour,  "  is  flesh  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto 
you,  you  must  be  born  again."  And  the  apostle,  in  the 
strongest  terms,  declares, — "The  carnal  mind  is  enmity 
against  God,  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither,  in- 
deed, can  be."  But  the  scriptures  are  replete  with  testimo- 
nies to  the  same  effect,  which,  to  those  who  habitually,  and 
devoutly  read  them,  it  would  be  superfluous  to  recite. 

THE  GOSPEL  UNITED  WITH  THE  LAW,  IN  THE  MOMENT 
OF  THE  FALL. 

Here  we  may  contemplate  for  a  moment,  the  benignity  of 
the  gospel,  grafted  upon  the  severity  of  the  law,  in  the  first 
moments  of  the  calamity  of  our  great  ancestors,  and  its  un- 
speakable mercy  consoling  them,  and  covering  to  them,  and 
their  posterity,  the  evils  of  the  Fall.  By  our  union  with 
our  natural  head  and  representative,  we  inherit  the  depravity 
of  his  nature,  both  in  body  and  in  mind :  but  the  Saviour  be- 


323 

ing  revealed  to  Adam,  be,  with  his  whole  race  were,  at  that 
instant,  placed  under  the  dispensation  of  mediatorial  grace. 
And  now,  every  infant  is  introduced  into  being,  not  on  the 
terms  which  our  degenerate  father  had  forfeited,  of  life  to  the 
perfect ;  but  of  pardon  and  grace  to  the  penitent,  bestowed 
through  the  Mediator.  And,  inasmuch  as  the  most  merciful 
Redeemer,  immediately,  on  the  promise  being  made  to 
Adam,  took  the  world  under  his  protection  and  government, 
the  gracious  aids  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  are  now  in  various  de- 
grees, extended  to  all  men  ;  but  more  especially  to  bis  chosen 
people  of  old,  and  since  to  his  church,  under  both  which  dis- 
pensations, the  precious  seal  of  his  covenant  is  appointed  to 
be  administered  to  all  their  infant  seed,  to  assure  them  of 
this  great  salvation.* 

This,  however,  does  not  present  to  us  the  whole  blessing 
of  that  form  of  the  New  Covenant  confirmed  to  Adam  in  the 
mysterious  promise.  The  Seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise 
the  Serpents  heady  shall  destroy  his  power,  and  defeat  his 
machinations.  To  our  imperfect  nature,  it  has  converted 
the  curse,  as  far  as  relates  to  the  evils  of  this  life,  its  labors, 
and  its  pains,  into  a  merciful  dispensation  ;  a  corrector  of  its 
calamities,  still  more  than  their  punishment.  The  aches,  the 
pains,  and  diseases  incurred  by  the  Fall,  become  salutary 
monitors  of  our  guilty  original,  and  serve  to  lead  the  soul    to 

*  See  this  principle  farther  illustrated,   under  the  head  of  the   seals  of  the 
covenant. 


324 

the  pious  contemplation  of  its  end.     The  industry,  and  in- 
genuity which,  in  a  stale  of  innocence,  might  have  been  drawn 
forth,  by  virtuous  principle,  to  the  improvement  of  the  arts, 
the  ornaments,  and  comforts  of  life,  are  now  stimulated  by  its 
multiplied  wants  ;  the  necessity  of  labor  is  productive  of  the 
greatest  blessings   of  society.     The   dependence,   the  re- 
straints, the  corrections,  (he  painful  application  of  childhood, 
and  youth,  are  requisite  for  the  early  cultivation  of  the  rea- 
son and  virtue  of  mankind.     Children,  amidst  all  their  imbe- 
cilities, are  first  protected,  and  then  made  wise  for  their  own 
protection,  by  the  wisdom  of  their  parents.     By  the  labors 
of  the   mind,  and  of  the  body,  human  nature  is  carried  for- 
ward towards  its  highest  improvement ;  and  the  world  itself 
is  created  anew  in  beauty,  and  rendered  subservient,  in  ten 
thousand  ways,  to  the  use  of  man.     The  curse  denounced  on 
the  woman,  that  in  pain  she  should  bring  forth  her  children, 
and  be  the  party  chiefly  subjected  to  the  anxieties  and  toils  of 
nursing  and  rearing  them,  is  made,  under  this  grace,  the  chief 
source   of  the  endearments  of  domestic  life.     If  children, 
from  their  earliest  infancy,  were,  like  the  young  of  many 
other  animals,  independent  of  the  protection,  and  the  nurtur- 
ing care  of  their  parents  ;  if  labor,  and  vigilance,  and  mutua' 
assistance,  were  not  generally  requisite  for  the  support,  respec- 
tability, and  comfort  of  families,  the  principal  ties  of  paren- 
tal affection,  and  filial  duty  would  be  dissolved.     The  habits 
would  be  destroyed,  or  never  formed,   which  in  the  highest 
degree  contribute  to  the  happiness,  increase,  and  beneficial 


325 

iotercoiu'e  and  improvement  of  nations.     Every  pa'n  which 
the  child  suffers,  every  risk  to  which  it  is  exposed,  endears, 
it  more  to  the  parent ;  every  anxiety,  expense,  and  sacrifice 
devoted  to  its  interest,  more  attaches  the  parent.     Parents 
themselves,  from  these  causes,  become  more  tendeily  united 
to  one  another  ;  the  mother  by  her  pains,  her  sicknesses,  her 
constant  need  of  some  kind  support;  the  father  by  the  man- 
ly protection  and  superior  assiduities  which  he  is  able  to  af- 
ford to  her  delicate  weaknesses.     The  mutual  wants  of  indi- 
viduals, and  of  families,  teach  them  to  sympathise  with  one 
another,  and  aid  their  easy  transition  into  national  sympathies, 
and  the  coalescing  of  mankind  into  great  communities. 

Under  the  Saviour,  therefore,  who  has  taken  the  world 
under  his  protection  and  grace,  the  curse  of  the  Fall,  how- 
ever much  to  be  lamented  in  its  original  cause,  has  been  ren- 
dered, in  many  respects,  a  blessing  to  our  fallen  and  imper- 
fect nature. 

THE  GENERAL  STRAIN  OF  THE  SACRED  WRITINGS,  A  STRONG- 
ER PROOF  OF  THE  DEPRAVITV  OF  HUMAN  NATURE, 
THAN  SINGLE  AND  DETACHED  PASSAGES. 

The  sinfulness  of  human  nature,  is  depicted  in  the  strong- 
est colours,  in  many  positive  declarations  throughout  the  sa- 
cred scriptures  ;  but  in  addition  to  the  direct  and  unequivo- 
cal evidence  of  many  detached  and  particular  passages,  per- 


326 

haps  a  more  convincing  proof  of  this  important  doctrine,  so 
humbling  to  the  pride  of  man,  results  from  the  general  strain 
of  the  whole  system  of  revealed  truth.  It  is  a  fundamental 
point  in  the  entire  fabric,  and  is  involved  in  all  its  principal 
doctrines.  If  a  Saviour  has  been  sent  into  the  world,  is  it 
not  to  deliver  mankind  fallen  and  perishing,  from  their  state 
of  sinfulness,  and  its  consequent  miseries  ?  Is  it  not  to  the 
unholy  that  the  purchased  Spirit  is  given  to  assist  their  re- 
pentance ?  Was  it  not  to  those  whose  reason  had  been  ob- 
scured by  the  power  of  sin,  that  the  light  of  divine  tmth 
had  become  necessary?  Was  not  this  also  the  language  of 
the  sacrifices  of  atonement  under  the  ancient  dispensation  ? 
Is  not  this  the  interpretation  of  the  doctrines  of  repentance, 
of  sanctification,  of  the  renovation  of  the  heart  under  the 
new  ?  Are  not  the  seals  of  the  covenant,  under  both  dis- 
pensations, emblems  of  a  necessary  purification  ?  And  do 
not  the  whole  furnish  such  an  accumulation  of  evidence  on 
this  subject,  as  can  hardly  fail  to  carry  with  it,  to  the  candid 
mind,  complete  conviction  that  man  is  a  fallen  and  sinful 
being  ? 

THE    TESTIMONY    OF    EXPERIENCE. 

If  any  evidence  of  this  unhappy  fact  could  be  added  to 
the  clear  and  uniform  testimony  of  the  sacred  writings,  we 
mi'^ht  derive  it  from  the  whole  history  and  experience  of  man- 
kind.   Do  we  not  observe  the  malevolent  passions  of  human 


327 

nature  displaying  an  unhappy  force  from  the  earliest  years 
of  childhood  and  infancy  ?  Have  we  not,  from  our  most  re- 
mote remembrance,  perceived  within  our  hearts,  the  working 
of  many  impure  desires  and  unhallowed  passions?  Is  not 
the  history  of  man,  in  a  great  measure,  the  history  of  his 
crimes  ?  Does  not  the  world  present  to  us  rather  a  prison 
destined  for  the  punishment  of  the  guilty,  than  a  paradise, 
the  delightful  habitation  of  innocence  ?  Does  not  the  infant 
feel  the  pangs,  and  utter  the  cries  of  pain,  from  the  moment 
of  its  birth  ?  Do  not  pain  and  disease,  though  now  sanctified 
to  the  penitent  by  the  Redeemer,  still  pursue  him,  till  they 
lay  him  in  the  grave  ?  Do  all  these  calamities  indicate  the 
state  of  an  innocent  being,  under  the  government  of  a  most 
merciful  Creator  ?  Or  does  not  a  strong  impression  again 
result  from  the  whole,  that  man  is  fallen  and  guilty  ? 

OF  THE  EXTENT  OF  ORIGINAL  SIN,  AND  THE  MODE  OF  ITS 
TRANSMISSION. 

Two  questions  yet  remain  upon  this  subject,  which  merit 
the  attention  of  the  theological  student.  In  the  first  place, 
to  what  extent  is  human  nature  corrupted  ? 

Secondly,  how  is  that  sinful  nature  communicated,  so  as 
not  to  subject  God  most  holy,  to  the  impious  charge  of  being 
the  author  of  sin  ? 


328 

1.  On  the  first,  it  is  the  decision  of  the  word  of  God,  and 
of  the  church,  that  the  depravity  of  human  nature  pervades 
it  in  its  whole  extent.  Its  rational  powers  are  perverse  in 
their  application,  or  rendered  impotent  through  sinful  ten* 
dency ;  and  all  its  moral  faculties,  in  their  habitual  action, 
have  become  criminal,  by  the  excess  in  their  pursuits,  by  de» 
feet  in  their  principles,  or  their  motives,  or  by  misapplication 
in  their  objects.  The  first  moments  of  existence  are  cer- 
tainly not  chargeable  with  actual  crimes,  but  with  such  per- 
version of  nature  from  its  original  rectitude,  that  its  earliest 
propensities,  emotions,  and  affections,  are  directed  to  wrong 
ends,  or  to  those  that  are  lawful  in  a  vicious  degree.  And, 
however  the  conduct  of  mankind  may,  in  many  parts  of  it, 
be  beneficial  to  their  fellow  men,  and,  in  so  far,  worthy  of  ap- 
probation, yet,  in  the  sight  of  God,  all  acts  are  unholy  in 
which  the  supreme  desire  of  the  soul  in  pursuing,  and  its  su- 
preme end  in  performing  them,  is  not  lo  render  obedience, 
and  glory  to  him  from  whom  all  existence  is  derived. 

2.  With  regard  to  the  second  question,  if  we  mean  to  ask 
how  an  impure  and  depraved  nature  may  be  imparted  to  the 
posterity  of  Adam  without  involving  a  deep  reproach  on  the 
Author  of  our  being  ?  It  is  suflScient  to  answer,  as  the  suc- 
cession of  all  animals  is  continued.  The  whole  nature  of  the 
parent  is  imparted  to  the  offspring.  But  in  what  manner  this, 
or  any  of  the  works  of  creation  is  produced,  is  utterly  beyond 
our  knowledge.     The  modus  operandi  is  the  secret  of  God. 


329 

But  to  say,  as  some  weak  men  have  done,  in  the  hope  of 
avoiding  the  impiety  of  making  God  the  author  of  a  sinful 
act,  that  God  formed  the  soul  pure,  but  uniting  it  to  a  sinful, 
disordered,  or  merely  animal  body,  it  has,  by  this  junction, 
become  necessarily  infected  with  sin,  is  certainly  an  errant 
absurdity  of  pious  folly.  As  if  it  were  less  contrary  to  the 
purity  of  the  divine  nature  to  form  a  being  innocent,  and  im- 
mediately subject  it  to  a  state  of  necessary  infection,  than  to 
suffer  the  laws  of  the  universe  freely  to  operate,  by  which  an 
impure  effect  must  proceed  from  an  impure  cause — a  sinful 
progeny  from  sinful  parents.  Of  much  more  moment  is  it  to 
us,  saith  Saint  Augustine,  to  understand  how  we  are  deliver- 
ed from  sin  by  Jesus  Christ,  than  to  be  able  to  explain  in  what 
manner  we  have  derived  it  from  Adam. 


42 


OF  FAITH. 


ITS  NATURE  AND  EFFICACF  AS  A  MORAL  FRINCIPLE^ 

AND 

TU£  REASONABLENESS  OF  ITS   HOLDING   SUCH  A  DISTIN- 
GUISHED PLACE  IN  THE  CHRISTIAN  SFSTEM. 


OF   THE 


NATURE  OF  FAITH; 


ITS    EFFICACY   AND    EXCELLENCE  AS  A  PRACTICAL   PRINCI- 
PLE OF  HOLINESS,  AND  CONSEq,UENTLY  THE  REA80N- 
A9LENESS  OF  ITS  POSSESSING  SUCH  A  DISTIN* 
GUISHED  PLACE    IN  THE  CHRIS- 
TIAN   SYSTEM. 


W  WING  already  considered  failh  as  the  condition  of  the 
Covenant  of  Grace,  and  incidentallj  spoken  of  the  justifica- 
tion, adoption,  and  sanctification  of  the  believer,  as  among  the 
precious  fruits  of  this  covenant,  I  have,  however,  thought  it 
necessary,  on  account  of  the  high  iqiportance  of  these  doc- 
trines in  th:i  christian  system,  to  treat  of  them  with  somewhat 
greater  extent  and  precision.  And,  in  the  first  place,  of 
Failh,  which,  as  it  is  the  fundamental  article  of  the  gospel, 
has  been  attacked  by  the  enemies  of  Christianity  with  pecu- 
liar virulence,  and  with  the  most  disingenuous  sarcasm  ;  in- 
sultingly presuming  that  it  needs  the  support  of  faith,  only  in 
proportion  as  it  is  deslitute  of  reason.  The  evidences  on 
which  our  faith  is  sustained  have  been  already  discussed,  as 
far  as  this  compendious  system  would  admit.  And,  on  the 
most  rigorous  investigation,  it  will  be  found  to  rest  on  secure 


334 

and  solid  foundations.  Its  enemies,  taking  advantage  of  an 
obvious  prejudice  against  the  name  of  faith,  find  an  occasion, 
either  through  ignorance  or  enraitj,  to  impeach  the  whole 
sjstem  as  an  appeal  to  the  credulity  of  mankind.  On  the 
contrary,  this  doctrine,  when  calmly  and  dispassionately  con- 
sidered, will  be  found,  notwithstanding  the  objections  of  its 
enemies,  not  less  conformable  to  the  principles  of  reason,  than 
it  is  to  the  prescriptions  of  Christ.  For  it  is  equally  true  of 
every  moral  institution,  as  of  the  gospel,  that  its  doctrines, 
its  laws,  its  sanctions,  and  the  authority  on  which  the  whole 
depends,  must  be  clearly  comprehended,  and  heartily  be- 
lieved, before  they  can  acquire  an  influence  on  manners  and 
conduct.  Had  Christianity  been  simply  a  philosophic  insti- 
tute, intended  to  regulate  morals,  and  to  persuade  mankind  to 
a  virtuous  life,  yet  must  its  doctrines  have  been  received  as 
truth,  with  a  proper  understanding  of  their  nature,  worth,  and 
importance,  (and  what  else  is  faith?)  before  they  could  have 
exerted  any  practical  effect  on  the  heart  and  a£fections.-^ 
Thus  does  the  principle  of  faith  become,  not  only  a  neces- 
sary, but  a  most  rational  basis  of  the  gospel,  whether  we  con- 
sider it  as  a  code  of  doctrine  addressed  to  the  intellect,  or  a 
system  of  precepts  regulating  the  practice.  And,  inasmuch 
as  the  mass  of  mankind  are  incapable  of  deducing  the  system 
of  their  duties  from  the  fountains  of  reason  alone  ;  still  less 
are  the  wisest  of  their  sages  capable  of  entering  into  the  un- 
searchable counsels  of  God,  so  as  to  explain  to  us  on  what 
terms  the  repentance  of  a  sinner  may  be  accepted  of  him,  in 


335 

order  to  his  reconciliation ;  or  of  penetrating  the  darkness 
which  hangs  over  the  everlasting  destinies  of  mankind  ;  and 
since  truth,  and  comfortable  hope,  on  these  subjects,  must  be 
purely  the  effect  of  revelation,  faith  is,  with  still  more  pro- 
priety, made  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  christian  sys- 
tem. It  is  confessed  that  the  peculiar  and  discriminating 
doctrines  of  Christianity  cannot  rest  on  the  discoveries  of  hu- 
man reason.  They  must  be  received,  if  they  are  rationally 
received  at  all,  upon  the  evidence  of  those  omnipotent  works 
performed  by  Jesus  Christ,  which  identify  him  with  the  Au- 
thor of  all  truth.  We  believe,  not  because  he  hath  taught 
like  the  leader  of  a  philosophic  sect,  in  a  chain  of  the  most 
accurate  and  conclusive  reasoning ;  but  because  he  hath 
made  it  evident,  that,  in  his  words,  God  himself,  the  Author 
of  all  truth,  hath  spoken.  For,  we  can  have  no  doubt  of  the 
presence  of  God  in  the  midst  of  those  astonishing  displays  of 
divine  power,  with  which  the  Saviour  hath  invited  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world  ;  nor  of  the  veracity  of  that  testimony,  the 
truth  of  which  the  Almighty  has  deigned  to  confirm  with  his 
own  seal.  As  it  is  the  privilege  of  children  to  receive  the 
lessons  of  duty  and  wisdom  from  the  mouth  of  a  wise  parent, 
which  they  ought  to  admit  with  implicit  reverence,  before 
their  minds  are  sufficiently  mature  to  discern  their  founda- 
tions in  the  eternal  principles  of  reason,  so  the  disciple  of 
Christ  humbly  learns,  by  faith,  at  the  feet  of  his  Redeemer, 
those  truths  which  he  could  not  otherwise  receive,  till  the 
soul,  ripened  by  the  instructions  of  his  grace  and  Spirit,  shall 


336 

be  enabled  to  contemplate  them,  in  the  light  of  heaven  with 
an  angel's  reason. — I  proceed,  therefore,  to  exhibit  the  na- 
ture of  Faith,  which  is  our  best  reason,  till  the  period  arrite 
of  immediate  vision. 

DEFINITION  OP  EVANGELIC  FAITH. 

Evangelic  Faith,  in  its  most  general  import,  consists  in  re- 
ceiving the  holj  scriptures,  with  clear  understanding,  and 
with  inward  and  profound  conviction  of  their  truth,  as  con- 
taining the  infallible  word  of  God ;  and  in  embracing  Jesus 
Christ,  who  is  the  principal  subject  of  them,  as  the  Son  of 
God,  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  A  postles,  and  prophets, 
and  inspired  men  are  his  organs  to  declare  his  will  to  man- 
kind ;  but,  to  the  believer,  it  is  God  himself  who  speaks  in 
them. 

On  this  definition  several  guards  and  explanations  are  to 
be  made,  in  order  to  the  more  distinct  understanding  of  the 
subject.  The  holy  scriptures,  besides  the  revelation  of  Je- 
sus Christ,  and  of  eternal  life  through  him,  contain  a  wide 
compass  of  miscellaneous  information,  more  or  less  directly 
connected  with  their  principal  end,  the  publication  of  the 
glad  tidings  of  peace,  to  a  guilty  world.  Faith,  therefore, 
besides  receiving  these  miscellanies  as  truths  which  highly 
concern  the  church,  respects  the  holy  scriptures  chiefly  as 
revealing  a  system  of  mercy  to  fallen  man.     And,  amidst 


337 

their  various  contents,  those  subjects  are  more  peculiarly  in- 
corporated in  the  object  of  faith,  which  are  most  esiifentiallj 
conjoined  with  this  idea  of  divine  mercy : — For  example,—- 
the  fallen  and  guilty  state  of  human  nature, — the  perfect 
atonement  for  sin  made  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, — the  infir 
nite  greatness,  holiness,  justice,  goodness,  sovereignty,  and 
truth  of  God, — the  beauty  and  excellence  of  the  law  of  ho- 
liness,— and  the  promise  of  eternal  life  to  the  penitent.  On 
other  subjects  opinions  may  be  more  various,  ideas  may  be 
more  indefinite  and  obscure :  but  on  these,  belief  ought  to 
be  precise,  clear,  strong. 

In  stating  the  nature  of  faith,  however,  a  distinction  is  to 
be  made  between  that  belief  which  has  a  reference  merely  to 
the  integrity  and  veracity  of  the  prophet,  the  apostle,  or  the 
messenger  of  Heaven,  and  that  which  respects  also  the  na- 
ture, importance,  and  excellence  of  the  doctrines  which 
these  divine  instructors  communicate.  Let  me  illustrate  my 
meaning  by  a  familiar  example. — We  may  possess  perfect 
confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  an  eminent  moralist,  or  admire 
the  talents  of  a  fine  writer,  who  points  out,  with  all  the  truth 
of  criticism,  the  beauties  of  any  classic  work  ;  but  for  want 
of  having  the  reason  properly  cultivated  by  education,  we 
may  not  perceive  the  soundness  of  his  remarks,  or  the  accu- 
racy of  his  reflections ;  or,  through  deficiency  of  taste,  may 
not  be  able  to  discern  the  beauty  of  his  examples,  nor  the 

delicacy  of  his  illustrations.     The  principles  and  doctrines 

4.'? 


338 

of  the  one,  or  the  delicate  beauties  of  the  other,  cannot  be 
strictlj  said  to  be  objects  of  our  belief;  because  the  former 
are  not  justly  apprehended,  nor  are  the  latter  truly  discern- 
ed, requiring  for  this  purpose,  the  delicacy  of  a  refined 
taste,  and  cultivated  understanding. — To  apply  these  re- 
marks.— A  genuine,  practical,  and  operative  faith  in  the  gos- 
pel, which  is  (hat  alone  after  which  we  seek,  consists,  not 
merely,  in  acknowledging  the  scriptures  to  be  the  word  of 
God,  or  in  confessing  the  divine  authority,  and  heavenly 
mission  of  the  apostles,  the  prophets,  or  of  Christ  himself, 
all  which  may  be  nothing  more  than  an  hereditary  opinion, 
or  pious  prejudice  derived  from  education :  but  it  implies,  as 
still  more  essential  to  it,  a  clear  perception  of  the  spiritual 
nature,  and  discernment  of  the  divine  excellence  and  beau- 
ty of  the  doctrines  which  they  teach,  especially  as  they  re- 
gard the  glory  of  God,  the  system  of  our  redemption,  and 
the  duties  and  immortal  hopes  of  man ;  and  I  must  add,  still 
further,  a  profound  persuasion,  which  is  a  necessary  conse- 
quence of  the  former,  not  only  of  their  truth,  but  of  their 
infinite  importance  to  our  everlasting  peace  and  happiness. 
These  doctrines,  therefore,  are  not  received  with  genuine 
faith,  but  in  proportion  as  their  true  nature,  as  far  as  they 
are  within  the  comprehension  of  the  human  mind,  is  clearly 
understood ;  and  clearly  understood  they  cannot  be  but  in 
proportion  as  the  heart  discerns  their  spiritual  excellence, 
and,  with  a  holy  and  divine  taste,  relishes  their  spiritual 
beauty ; — for  the  excellence  of  virtue,  the  beauty  of  holi- 


339 

ncsa,  is  part  of  its  idea. — Here  then  we  begin  to  perceive 
the  moral  and  sanctifying  influence  of  a  sincere  faith ;  for 
what  the  heart  thus  understands  and  loves,  discerning  its  su- 
preme excellence,  must  govern  the  practice.  The  believer 
perceiving,  by  this  gracious  principle,  the  perfection  of  these 
doctrines,  or,  in  the  language  of  the  scriptures,  the  beauty 
of  holiness,  is  led,  by  the  sweet  attraction  of  a  renewed 
taste,  to  delight  in  the  lam  of  God  after  the  inward  man. 

THE  DEPENDENCE  OF  SAVING  FAITH  ON  THE  GOOD  « 

DISPOSITIONS  OF  THE  HEART. 

Here  also  we  discern,  which  is  my  next  observation,  the 
dependence  of  faith  upon,  or  its  necessary  connexion  with 
the  good  dispositions  of  the  heart. — By  the  understanding  we 
judge  of  speculative  truth.  And  many  writers  have  main- 
tained that  this  power  of  the  mind  alone  is  employed  in  a  ra- 
tional and  consistent  faith.  But  it  ought  always  to  be  re- 
membered that  the  convictions  of  the  understanding  are 
greatly  influenced,  on  all  moral  subjects,  by  the  slate  of  the 
affections.  It  is  the  heart  alone,  profoundly  touched  by  the 
Spirit  of  grace,  which  creates  those  lively  and  affecting  con- 
ceptions of  the  beauty  and  excellence  of  divine  things, 
which,  together  with  the  conclusions  of  reason,  form  the  es- 
sence of  a  practical  faith  the  active  and  operative  principle 
of  a  holy  life.  Hence  the  apostle  hath  said ;  "  with  the 
heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness."     And  Philip  reph'- 


340 

ed  to  one  asking  the  condition  of  baptism.— If  thou  believest 
with  all  thy  heart,  thou  mayest. 

Will  it  be  asked  if  we  do  not,  by  this  representation,  re- 
quire the  regeneration  of  the  heart,  or  the  formation  in  the 
soul  of  a  divine  and  holy  taste  of  truth,  as  a  prerequisite  to 
faith,  of  which,  change,  however,  faith  is  acknowledged  to  be 
the  only  genuine  principle  ?  By  no  means.  Degenerate  as 
human  nature  is,  it  so  far  possesses  ideas  of  moral  excellence, 
and  consents  to  the  law  of  God  that  it  is  good,  as  under  the 
gracious  influences  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  co-operating  with 
his  holy  word,  to  present  to  that  heavenly  Teacher  a  suffi- 
cient foundation  for  an  understanding  faith  in  its  incipient 
state.  And  when  once  this  holy  illumination,  this  divine 
taste  exists  in  the  weakest  degree,  it  prepares  the  soul,  un- 
der the  culture  of  the  same  word,  and  the  continued  influ* 
ence  of  the  same  Spirit,  to  receive  every  doctrine  of  the 
gospel  with  a  fuller  conviction,  to  perceive  increasing  beau- 
ties in  the  system  of  grace,  and  to  feel,  with  augmented 
force  the  obligation  of  the  whole  law  of  holiness.  There 
exists  a  stiong  analogy  between  the  progress,  and  effects  of 
education  whether  moral  or  scientific,  and  the  influence  of 
this  divine  culture  on  the  mind,  under  the  teachings  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  The  mind  begins  her  course  blind  to  the  beau- 
ties  of  truth,  and  averse  to  the  constraints  of  a  necessary 
discipline ;  but  the  light  which  is  gradually  shed  into  the 
miud  improves,  both  the  judgment,  and  the  taste,  and  con- 


341 

tributes,  by  a.  fine  and  almost  imperceptible  influence,  to 
ameliorate  the  heart.  We  cannot  pronounce  that  a  happy 
and  formed  taste  must  precede  the  power  of  perceiving  the 
beautj  or  the  light  of  virtue,  or  of  science  in  their  incipient 
state:  nor  can  we  say,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  percep- 
tion of  the  beauty  of  virtue  twust  precede  the  formation  of  a 
virtuous  taste.  They  are  simultaneously  cultivated,  and,  by 
a  mutual  influence,  produce  their  effects  on  each  other  by 
an  insensible  reciprocation  of  ideas  and  feelings,  which  is  too 
fine  to  be  marked  in  lanisnage  ;  but  does  not  fail  to  be  per- 
ceived by  all  who  are  accusfoned  to  attend  with  precision 
to  the  operations  of  their  own  mnds. 

THE  RETRIBUTIONS  OF  ETERNiTY  INCLUUED   IN    THE  IDEA 
OF  AN  OPERATIVE  AND  EFFICIENT  FAITH. 

In  speaking  of  faith  as  an  efficient  principle  of  sanctifica- 
tion,  it  is  requisite,  besides  the  spiritual  understanding  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  gospe,  and  the  divine  taste  of  their  ex- 
cellence and  beiiuty  whidi  it  implies,  to  include  also  in  its 
idea,  those  powerful  mctives  of  holiness  and  obedience 
which  it  derives  from  celestial  and  eternal  things.  In  the 
language  of  the  apostle,  "  it  is  the  substance  of  things  hop- 
ed for,  and  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen."  It  penetrates 
the  veil  which  conceals  them  from  mortal  eyes,  and  presents 
them  to  the  ilevout  mind,  as  far  as  the  human  faculties  are 
susceptible  of  these  sublime  ideas,  with  a  transcendent,  and 


342 

Micffable  sensation.  Among  these  heavenly  objects  we  dis- 
cern especially  the  glory  of  God,  the  infinite  love  of  the  Re- 
deemer, the  final  judgment  of  the  universe,  and  the  ever- 
lasting retributions  of  the  righteous,  and  the  wicked ; — con- 
siderations which  add  a  mighty  and  practical  force  to  the 
delightful  attractions  of  redeeming  love. 

ASSEMBLAGE  OF  THE  PRECEEDING  PRINCIPLES. 

Let  us  review  the  principles  which  I  have  hitherto  laid 
down  upon  this  subject.  Faith  consists  in  the  first  place, 
and  in  its  most  general  idea,  in  receiving  the  sacred  scrip- 
tures as  containing  the  gracitus  revelation  of  the  will  of  God 
for  our  instruction  in  righteousness,  and  our  eternal  salvation. 
—It  consists  in  the  next  place,  not  only  in  the  belief  of  the 
divine  authority  and  direction  under  which  the  scriptures 
have  been  communicated  to  tiie  world,  but  in  a  clear  and 
spiritual  understanding  of  the  nature,  and  a  divine  percep- 
tion of  the  excellence  and  perfecton  of  their  holy  doctrines. 
—Thirdly,  in  a  strong  impression  on  the  heart  of  those  high 
motives  to  practical  piety  and  vrtue,  which  religion  has 
drawn  from  the  glory  of  God,  fron  the  redemption  of  the 
cross,  and  the  retributions  of  eteri;ity.  And,  finally,  in  a 
profound  persuasion  of  the  personal,  and  everlasting  concern 
which  we  have  in  those  precious,  those  glorious,  and  those 
awful  truths. 


343 


THE  EFFICACY  OF  FAITH. 


We  conclude,  therefore,  with  the  justest  reason,  that  no 
moral  system,  or  institute  of  religion,  has  ever  laid  such  a 
foundation  for  purity  of  heart,  and  sanctify  of  life,  as  the 
christian  economy,  resting,  as  it  does,  on  the  doctrine  of  a 
sincere  faith  in  the  Redeemer  of  the  world.  If  we  assemble 
all  the  objects  of  faith  in  one  view,  and  receive  them  as  the 
infallible  truths  of  God,  not  with  a  vague,  unmeaning  assent^ 
the  fruit  merely  of  custom  and  example,  but  with  a  profound 
conviction,  arising  from  reflection,  from  examination,  from 
the  holy  influence  of  prayer,  aided  by  the  concurrent  illu- 
mination of  the  Eternal  Spirit,  I  may  ask,  with  confidence, 
what  motives  drawn  from  any  other  source,  can  be  compared 
with  those  derived  from  the  gospel,  for  the  purity  of  their 
influence,  and  their  persuasive  power  on  the  heart  ? 

THE  EXCELLEtfCE  OP  THIS  PRINCIPLE  AS  A  PRACTICAL 
BASIS  OF  RELIGION*. 

The  enemies  of  the  gospel  profess  to  be  offended  at  its 
resting  so  much  on  the  doctrine  of  faith ;  insinuating  that  the 
whole  is  merely  an  address  to  the  credulity  of  mankind,  in 
which  believing  its  pretensions  is  made  a  substitute  for  piety 
and  morality. — The  evidences  of  our  holy  religion,  propos- 
ed in  the  introduction  of  this  treatise,  are  a  sufficient  reply 


344 

to  the  former  insinuation.     The  gospel,  instead  of  declining 
any  fair  scrutiny,  requires  of  its  disciples  the  most  rigorous 
investigation.     And  the  illustration  which  has  just  been  giv- 
en of  the  doctrine,  as  a  practical  piinciple  of  morals,   will 
rescue  it  from  the  obloquy  of  the  latter ;  and  will  vindicate 
the  reasonableness  of  building  the  whole  evangelic  system 
upon  this  foundation.     The  ground  on  which  the  sacred  wri- 
ters extol  this  grace  is,  not  that  its  merit  is  sufficient  to  sup- 
ply the  defect  of  every  other  virtue  ;  but,  that  it  is  the  prop- 
er spring  of  all  true  virtue,  and  the  most  efficient  principle 
of  a  holy  life.     Let  us  pursue  this  reflection  a  moment. 
We  may  lay  it  down  as  an  infallible  maxim  in  morals,  that 
right  principles  truly  understood,  and  firmly  believed,  will 
ever  be  followed  by  right  conduct;  and  that  false  principles, 
on  the  other  hand,  tend  to  vitiate  the  fountains  of  virtue 
and  piety  in  the  heart,  and  lead  to  many  pernicious  errors  in 
the  habits  of  life.     What  then  is  evangelic  faith,  but  em- 
bracing on  the  authority  of  a  divine  and  infallible  teacher, 
and  on  the  renewed  taste  of  a  mind  enlightened  by  the  in- 
spiration of  truth,  the  purest  principles  of  practical  virtue, 
the  holiest  law  of  universal  duty,  which  has  ever  been  pre- 
scribed to  mankind.     It  is  subjecting  the  soul  to  the  influence 
of  the  most  sublime  and  powerful  motives  of  holiness  which 
the  wisdom  of  God  has  ever  published  for  the  regeneration 
of  the  world.     The  laws  of  morals,  as  they  have  been  pre- 
scribed in  the  systems  of  the  wisest  men  who  have  not  drawn 
them  from  the  fountains  of  inspiration,  are  susceptible  of 


345 

30  much  disputation,  and  are  liable,  in  their  application,  to 
so  many  exceptions  and  modifications,  in  favour  of  each 
man's  inclinations  or  interests,  that  they  form  a  most  uncer- 
tain and  fallacious  rule  of  duty.  It  is,  besides,  a  rule  as 
feeble  in  its  authority,  as  it  is  defective  in  its  prescriptions, 
being  liable  to  be  changed,  or  set  aside,  by  every  caprice  of 
self-love,  or  impulse  of  misguided  passion.  Biii  every  thing 
in  the  discipline  of  Christ,  is  clear  and  luminous  as  the  eter- 
nal laws  of  truth  from  which  it  emanates.  Here  are  no  en- 
feebling doubts,  no  uncertain  reasonings  which  make  the  law 
loo  often  speak  the  language  of  a  corrupted  heart. — Where, 
then,  can  be  found,  in  all  the  systems  of  human  wisdom, 
such  a  basis  of  morality  as  in  that  faith  which  is  the  practi- 
cal principle  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  ?  Has  any  philosophy, 
the  canJid  unbeliever  himself  being  judge,  ever  taught  so 
pure  and  excellent  a  doctrine,  derived  it  from  so  sublime  a 
source,  enjoined  it  by  sanctions  so  weighty  and  important, 
or  added  to  it  the  force  of  obligations,  and  the  persuasion  of 
motives,  so  transcendent  in  their  nature,  and  fitted  to  interest 
all  the  best  powers  of  the  soul  ? — Such  are  the  moral  effects 
of  a  genuine  faith  in  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
which,  in  the  esteem  of  every  candid  and  pious  mind,  will 
repeil  all  the  contemptuous  sneers  of  infidelity,  and  vindicate 
the  high  place  which  it  holds  in  the  christian  dispensation. 
It  works  by  love,  and  purifies  the  heart.  It  is  the  com- 
mencement of  that  pure  and  heavenly  spirit,  which,  unfold- 

44 


346 

ed  and  cherished  in  the  regions  of  immortal  love,  will  be  the 
consummation  of  that  grace  wherein  we  now  stand, 

OTHER  DEFINITIONS  OF  FAITH. 

Before  dismissing  this  branch  of  the  subject,  let  me  take 

notice  of  some  definitions,  or  representations  of  this  grace, 

confessedly  just,  but  the  coincidence  of  which  with  the  viewa 

hitherto  presented  to  you,    may  not  immediately  appear. 

Sometimes  it  is  characterised   in  the   holy   scriptures   by 

one  of  its  principal  acts. — Abraham  is  said  to  have   be- 

lieved  Gody  and  it  was  accounted  to  him  for  righteousness, 

I 
This  consequence  could  have  flowed  only  from  his  having 

trusted  implicitly  in  the  divine  promise,  in  opposition  to  the 

most  untoward  events,  and  to  appearances  that  might  have 

discouraged  the  strongest  hopes.     Such  confidence  in  the 

covenanted  promise  of  God  could  have  existed  only  in  a^ 

heart  prepared  to  receive,  with  submissive  duty,  every  part 

of  his  declared  will. 

Sometimes  it  is  designated  by  one  of  its  principal  objects ; 
as  in  the  command  of  the  apostle  to  the  jailor  Believe  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  In  another  circumstance,  the  same 
great  founder  of  the  christian  faith,  descending  to  an  idea 
still  more  particular,  says ;  "  If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy 
mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that 
God  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved. 


34r 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  is  so  intimately 
involved  with  the  accomplishment  of  the  atonement,  and 
with  the  truth  of  all  the  promises  and  hopes  of  Christianity, 
that  sincerely  to  receive  this  glorious  truth  in  all  its  relations 
and  consequences,  is  to  embrace  the  whole  gospel. 

On  the  other  hand,    the  pious   and  learned   compiler! 
of  the  confession  and  catechism  of  the  presbyterian  church 
have  chosen  to  describe  it  by  one  of  its  essential  and  insepa- 
rable consequences ;    receiving  and  resting  upon  Christ 
alone  for  salvation.     Desiring  to  give  some  single  criterion  of 
this  grace  which  would  be  least  liable  to  be  mistaken  by  a  be- 
liever hiraselfin  judging  of  his  own  spiritual  state,  they  have  fix- 
ed on  this  self-renuncia(ion,  and  this  absolute  dependence  of 
the  penitent  sinner  on  the  grace  and  merits  of  the  Saviour,  as 
one  that  is  most  certain,  because  one  to  which  the  pride,  and 
Belf-complacency  of  man  most  reluctantly  submits :  one  to 
which  he  never  does  submit,  till  the  sense  of  his  own  unworthi- 
ness  and  guilt, — of  the  purity,  holiness,  and  justice  of  the  di- 
vine law, — of  the  grace  of  the  Redeemer,  and  the  all-sufficien- 
cy of  his  righteousness  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  violated 
law, — in  a  word,  till  the  whole  gospel  has  taken  full  posses- 
sion of  his  soul. 


348 


OP   FALSE!    RESEMBLANCES    OF    FAITH. 

Systematic  writers  on  the  subject  of  faith  present  to  us 
different  counterfeit  resemblances  of  this  grace,  which  it  is  of 
importance,  in  practice,  to  discriminate  from  the  genuine 
principle.  Among  them,  those  which  chiefly  require  our  no- 
tice, have  been  called  an  historical  faith,  and  a  temporary 
faith.  By  the  former  is  intended  that  assent  which  is  yield- 
ed to  the  truth  of  the  holy  scriptures  through  custom,  educa- 
tion, and  sympathy  with  general  opinion  and  example.  Or 
it  may  embrace  that  which  arises  from  the  convictions  of  the 
understanding  yielded  to  a  rational  examination  of  the  evi- 
dences of  our  religion,  but  without  producing  that  discern- 
ment of  the  spiritual  beauty,  and  that  heartfelt  perception  of 
the  excellence  of  its  moral  and  divine  doctrines,  which  cre- 
ates a  fervent  love  of  the  truth,  and  begets  a  deep  and  per- 
sonal application  of  it  to  the  heart,  for  its  sanctification  and 
instruction  in  righteousness.  This  is  that  faiths  if  it  deserve 
the  name,  which  fills  our  churches  with  formal,  indeed,  but 
cold  professors,  destitute  of  the  life  and  power  of  godliness. 
That  occupies  the  garden  of  God  with  fair  and  sightly  trees 
which  put  forth  leaves  and  flowers,  but  bring  none  of  the  gen- 
uine fruits  of  holiness  to  perfection.  The  history  of  our  Sa- 
viour is,  to  them,  like  other  credible  narrations  of  ancient,  or 
of  distant  events,  and  generally  creates  as  little  interest  in 
the  heart. 


349 

On  the  other  hand,  that  which  is  improperly  called  a  tem^ 
porary  faith)  is  usually  nothing  more  than  an  occasional,  and 
sometimes  constitutional  susceptibility  of  heart  on  religious 
aubjects,  excited  by  a  variety  of  concurrent  circumstances  ; 
and,  like  other  transient  emotions,  passing  away  without  fruit, 
or  any  radical  change  of  character.  In  those  moments  of 
religious  feeling,  the  gospel  is  regarded  rather  as  a  system  of 
beneficence  to  the  creature,  than  of  mercy  and  grace  to  the 
sinner.  It  is  prone  to  rejoice  in  the  ideas  of  the  divine  be- 
nignity ;  and  often  melts  with  the  sympathetic  recollections 
of  the  Saviour's  suSerings  and  love,  without  entering  deeply 
Jnto  the  depravity  of  our  nature,  and,  from  the  heart,  abhor- 
ring its  corruptions.  It  perceives  the  triumphs,  not  the  hu- 
mility of  religion.  The  consequence  is,  that  not  duly  sensi- 
ble of  the  evil  of  sin,  and  penetrated  with  the  sentiments  of 
repentance,  it  does  not  properly  regard  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  as  forming  the  sole  meritorious  title  of  our  acceptance 
with  God.  When  the  passions  and  temptations  of  sin  are, 
from  any  cause  suspended,  mistaking  this  for  the  change  of 
heart  required  in  the  gospel,  it  may  perceive  an  elevated  joy 
in  the  hopes  of  eternal  life  and  happiness ;  but,  having  no 
root  of  holiness  in  itself,  when  persecution,  or  shame,  or  the 
sacrifice  of  interest  or  of  pleasure  is  to  be  encountered  for 
the  sake  of  the  word,  bye  and  bye  it  is  offended  ;  or,  when 
the  transient  fit  of  religious  sensibility  has  passed  off,  it  leaves 
nothing  behind  it  but  the  passions  of  the  world. 


350 

This  grfeat  and  practical  principle  of  duty  is  attempted,  bj 
different  writers,  to  be  analyzed  into  various  acts  concurring 
to  constitute  its  essence  ;  such  as  repentance  for  sin— a  de- 
sire to  glorify  God  through  Jesus  Christ — a  love  of  divine 
things — hungering  and  thirsting  after  righteousness—receiv- 
ing and  resting  upon  Christ  for  justification,  sanctification, 
and  complete  redemption.     These  acts  form  an  injudicious 
analysis  of  the  grace  of  faith.     They  are  natural  consequen- 
ces resulting  from  the  devout  and  humble  state  of  the  mind 
in  the  exercise  of  faith  ;  but  are  not  more  peculiarly  allied  to 
this  grace  than  to  other  principles  of  the  divine  life.     There 
is,  however,  a  discrimination  in  this  act,  according  to  its  de- 
grees of  clearness  and  strength,  into  a  weak  faith  and  a  strong 
faithj  which  has  a  real  foundation  in  the  experience  of  good 
men.     And  the  holy  apostle  evidently  justifies  the  distinc- 
tion, speaking  of  some  of  his  converts  as  being  yet  only 
babes  in  Christ.     And,  in  his  second  epistle  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians,  exulting  in  the  faith  of  that  church  as  growing  eX' 
cudingly ;  by  which  language  he  strongly  marks  a  progres- 
sion in  this  grace.     His  followers  at  Rome  he  exhorts  not  to 
think  more  highly  of  themselves  than  they  ought  to  think, 
but  to  think  soberlyy  according  as  God  hath  dealt  to  every 
man  the  measure  of  faith. 


351 


IN  THE   FIRST.. PLACE,  OP  A  WEAK   FAITH. 

This  title  implies  a  certain  feebleness  in  the  impressions 
which  divine  truth  makes  upon  the  mind,  so  that  it  does  not 
habitually  yield  that  clear  apprehension  of  its  nature,  and  firm 
persuasion  of  its  glorious  reality,  which  raises  the  believer, 
at  all  times,  above  the  seductive  influence  of  the  world,  and 
gives  him  that  lively  sense  of  his  interest  in  the  atonement 
and  intercession  of  Christ  which  contributes,  in  the  highest 
degree,  to  his  comfort  in  the  divine  life,  and  to  the  most  use- 
ful discharge  of  his  various  duties.     This  feeble  habit  of  re- 
ligious feeling,  may  arise  from  different  causes,  which  will 
naturally  display  themselves  in  proportionally  different  ef- 
fects upon  the  character  and  manners.     Sometimes  it  springs 
from  a  natural  imbecility  of  mind  in  conceiving  its  ideas ;  and, 
at  other  times,  from  possessing  only  narrow  views,  and  very 
limited  opportunities  of  information.     The  consequence  of 
which,  usually,  is  an  unhappy  mixture  of  low  and  super- 
stitious ideas  and  practices  with  the  better  principles  of  re- 
ligion.    Not  unfrequently,  it  is  derived  from  certain  errors  in 
principle,  which  occasion  the  forms,  and  the  external  duties 
of  religion  to  be  too  much,  or  too  little  regarded  ;  either  ab- 
sorbing the  heart  in  its  ceremonial,  or,  by  a  pretended  supe- 
riority to  outward  form,  withdrawing  from  the  weakness  of 
human  nature  the  aids  which  have  always  been  found  neces« 
aary  for  preserving  alive  the  warmth  and  vigor  of  pious  af- 


'352 

fectioD.  By  suffering  certain  habits  of  conformity  to  the 
worlH  to  grow  up  in  the  heart,  unobserved,  we  sometimes  see 
a  state  of  manners,  gradually  introduced,  unfriendly  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  divine  life,  and  of  that  strictness  of  walk, 
and  purity  of  conversation  before  God,  which  is  most  edi- 
fying to  the  church,  and  becoming  the  gravity  of  the  chris- 
tian profession.  Too  often  a  weak  faith  may  be  occasioned 
by  peculiar  temptations  assailing  a  christian,  against  which  he 
has  not  been  sufficiently  on  his  guard  ;  or  it  may  grow  out 
of  certain  habitual  situations  in  life  wherein  so  many  worldly 
engagements  and  avocations  press  upon  his  attention,  as  un- 
happily to  occupy  a  great  portion  of  that  time  which  ought 
to  be  devoted  to  the  studies,  meditations,  and  duties  of  piety. 
The  strength  of  his  faith  will,  in  this  case,  often  be  little  su- 
perior to  the  influence  of  the  world,  and  will  be  a  feeble  prin- 
ciple either  of  comfort  to  his  own  soul,  or  of  advancement  in 
the  habits  of  holy  living.  On  particular  occasions,  sin  may 
have  surprised  the  vigilance  of  the  most  sincere  and  humble 
christian,  and  so  distressed  his  conscience,  that  he  cannot 
discern  in  himself  any  satisfactory  evidences  of  his  peculiar 
relation  to  Christ.  In  other  instances,  a  constitutional  gloom- 
iness of  mind  inclines  some  christians  habitually  to  contem- 
plate the  state  of  their  own  minds  in  an  unfavorable  light. 
They  entertain  no  doubt,  indeed,  of  the  truths  of  the  gospel. 
They  may  regard  them  with  the  highest  veneration  and  af- 
fection. Firmly  believing  the  general  principle  of  the  pow- 
er and  grace  of  God,  they  cannot,  however,  in  the  afflicting 


353 

darkness  of  their  minds,  discern  their  own  privilege  to  ap- 
propriate the  gracious  promise  of  the  covenant  to  themselves. 
It  is  not  of  the  mercj,  or  the  promise  of  God,  that  they  en- 
tertain any  doubt ;  but  of  themselves.  They  lose  the  com- 
forts of  a  composed  and  settled  state  of  piety  and  devotion ; 
and  that  time  is  often  spent  in  gloomy  retreat,  and  anxious 
conflicts  with  their  own  hearts,  which  would  be  better  em- 
ployed in  active  duty.  Active  duty  is  the  best  mean  of  re- 
moving the  doubts  of  humble  piety,  by  giving  to  the  true  be- 
liever the  best  evidences  of  a  regenerate  and  sanctified  prin^ 
ciple  of  action.  In  retirement,  the  mind  often  broods  over 
its  own  evils,  and  increases  the  gloom  which  induces  it  to 
court  seclusion  from  the  world.  There  are  two  acts,  how- 
ever, by  which  the  sincerity  of  the  weakest  faith  may  be  de- 
monstrated. The  one  is  humility,  under  a  deep  sense  of  the 
evil  of  sin,  and  of  the  imperfection  of  our  own  righteousness, 
producing  unceasing  desire  of  an  interest  in  the  redemption 
purchased  by  Christ  Jesus.  The  other  is  an  earnest  en- 
deavor to  render  that  interest  clear  to  the  heart,  by  the  faith- 
ful discharge  of  every  duty,  and  a  constant  study  to  glorify 
God  by  holiness  of  living,  and  universal  obedience  to  his 
will.  Where  these  characters  exist  in  sincerity,  faith,  al- 
though it  may  be  feeble,  is  still  genuine,  and  the  believer 
may  be  truly  an  heir  of  eternal  life  ;  although,  dubious  and 
uncertain  of  his  relation  to  Christ,  his  mind  may  be  often 
covered  with  darkness  and  perplexity. 

4'} 


354 


OF    A    STRONG   FAITH. 


This  exercise  of  the  soul  implies  such  a  clear,  deep,  and 
habitual  persuasion  of  divine  truth  as  easily  overcomes  the 
undue  and  seductive  influence  of  worldly  things.  And  the 
habitual  warmth  of  its  devotion,  and  its  zeal  in  promoting,  as 
far  as  its  power  extends,  the  interests  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom,  impart  such  internal  evidence  of  sincerity,  as  leaves 
no  doubt  or  hesitancy,  in  the  most  humble  believer,  in  ap- 
propriating the  free  and  gracious  provisions  of  the  gospel. 
Confiding  in  the  amplitude  and  riches  of  divine  grace,  and  the 
faithfulness  of  the  divine  promise,  he  enjoys  such  a  serene 
and  stedfast  assurance  of  faith,  as  frequently  enables  him,  in 
the  language  of  the  apostle,  to  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  glory.  This  calm  and  settled  confidence  in  the 
security  of  his  spiritual  state,  and  interest  in  the  covenanted 
mercy  of  God,  forms  one  of  the  distinguishing  characters  of  a 
strong  faith,  and  enables  the  believer  to  discharge  his  duty 
with  the  greater  comfort,  and  to  fulfil  its  labors,  ^nd  endure 
its  trials,  with  the  greater  constancy  and  fortitude.  Job  pre- 
sents an  interesting  example  of  this  faith,  in  his  devout  and  fer- 
vent exclamation,  J  know  that  my  Redeemer  livethy  and 
thoughf  after  my  sfcin,  worms  destroy  this  body^  yety  in  my 
fleshy  I  shall  see  God.  This  also  is  that  degree  of  faith 
testified  by  the  apostle  Paul  in  the  following  language :  I  know 
in  whom  I  have  trustedt  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able 


855 

io  keep  tlutt  which  1  have  committed  to  him  against  that  dai/< 
It  is  the  same  which,  in  aDother  place,  he  calls  the  full  aS' 
surance  of  faith.  To  it,  likewise,  the  prophet  Isaiah  seems 
to  allude,  in  an  expression  that  deserves  to  be  explained— 
Let  him  take  hold  of  my  strenglh  that  he  may  make  peace 
with  me;  alluding  evidently  to  the  privilege  which  certain 
criminals  enjoyed  of  fleeing,  and  taking  hold  of  the  horns, 
which  were  the  strength  of  the  altar,  in  order  to  escape  the 
stroke  of  vengeance  or  of  justice.  The  obvious  interpreta- 
tion of  which  language  is — let  him,  with  confidence,  trust  my 
power  to  save,  and  therein  enjoy  the  security  of  my  protec- 
tion. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  confidence  of  salvation,  and  a  joy  aris- 
ing out  of  this  assurance  which  the  hypocrite  may  taste  as 
well  as  the  believer,  and,  sometimes,  in  a  higher  degree. 
But  these  affections  may  be  discriminated  from  each  other, 
by  considering  the  neceSsary  effects,  and  certain  fruits,  of  a 
genuine  faith.  Believing  the  entire  corruption  of  our  nature, 
it  produces  the  deepest  humiliation  before  God.  The  joy 
of  the  hypocrite,-  on  the  other  hand,  begets  an  exultation  of 
heart,  in  which  little  of  the  true  humility  of  repentance  is  to 
be  found.  To  the  believer,  the  goodness  and  mercy  of  God, 
to  a  sinner  so  unworthy,  occasions  the  profoundest  self-abase- 
ment ;  in  the  hypocrite  it  creates  an  unreasonable  estimation 
of  himself,  and  a  pharisaic  self-complacency  in  the  idea  that 
he  is  better  than  others.     The  one,  although  his  own  happi- 


336 

ness  contributes  greatly  to  heighten  his  joy  of  failh,  rejoices 
chiefly  in  the  beauty  of  holiness  ;  to  the  other,  his  own  feli- 
city is  the  principal  consideration  in  those  triumphs  which 
at  some  times  occupy  and  elevate  his  soul.  The  one  loves 
God  supremely  for  the  holiness  of  his  nature ;  the  other  is 
fsoolhed  by  a  flattering  self-complacency,  in  being  distinguish- 
ed as  a  peculiar  object  of  divine  favor. 

BY  WHAT  VIRTUE  IN  FAITH  IS  IT  THAT  IT  CONFERS  A 
RIGHT  TO  THE  BLESSINGS  OF  THE  COVENANT? 

Having  before  pointed  faith  out  as  the  condition  of  the 
covenant  of  grace,  I  will  now  consider  a  question  which  ari- 
ses in  consequence,  and  is  often  asked,  by  what  virtue  in 
that  grace  is  it  that  all  the  rich  and  unmerited  blessings  of 
the  covenant  are  freely  conferred  on  the  unworthiness  of  the 
believing  sinner  ? — Several  figurative  expressions  found  in 
the  holy  scriptures,  or  employed  on  this  subject  by  various 
divines,  have  been  resorted  to  as  suggesting  the  proper  an- 
swer. But  all  this  kind  of  imagery,  serves  rather  to  amuse 
{he  imagination,  than  to  afford  satisfaction  to  the  judgment. 
Faith  has  been  said,  for  example,  to  act  as  the  hand  which, 
by  accepting  the  mercies  freely  proffered  to  the  believing 
sinner,  constitutes,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  covenant, 
his  lawful  title  of  possession.  Other  figures  exhibit  the  be- 
liever as  taking  refuge  in  Jesus  Christ,  as  a  harrassed  pil- 
•grim,  beneath  a  secure  cpvert,  from  the  tempest  or  a  defence"^ 


357 

less  man,  behind  his  shield,  from  the  dart  of  an  enemy. 
These  may  form  agreeable  images  in  eloquent  discourse,  but 
do  not  explain  the  subject  to  the  understanding.  The  effi- 
cacy of  faith  does  not  arise  from  any  natural,  or  necessary 
virtue  in  this  act  of  the  mind  to  merit,  or  procure  the  bless- 
ing, but  from  the  good  pleasure  of  God,  and  the  merciful 
constitution  of  the  covenant  of  grace.— To  render  the  sub- 
ject more  obvious,  I  lay  down  the  following  propositions. 
God  infinitely  merciful  delights  not  in  the  misery  of  the  of- 
fender. His  supreme  felicity  consists  in  imparting  happi- 
ness to  all  who  can  be  made  to  enjoy  it  in  consistency  with 
the  holy  perfections  of  his  nature,  or,  in  other  words,  with 
the  eternal  and  necessary  laws  of  the  moral  universe.  HaV" 
ing  been  pleased  that  the  indispensible  claims  of  his  justice 
should  be  satisfied  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  cross,  he  now  on- 
ly wants  a  fit  subject  of  his  mercy,  most  freely  to  bestow  it. 
Faith  possesses  this  virtue,  that,  by  the  belief  of  the  gra- 
cious truths,  and  promises  of  the  gospel,  it  becomes,  the 
most  efficient  principle  of  the  regeneration  and  sanctification 
of  our  nature.  The  proper  efficacy  of  faith  then  is,  that  it 
prepares  the  soul  to  be  a  fit  recipient  of  those  blessings 
which  the  infinite  benevolence  of  the  Deity  is  ever  willing  to 
confer  on  those  who  know  how  to  value  them,  and  are  quali- 
fied to  enjoy  them.  All  the  mercies  of  the  gospel  are 
transferred  to  the  believer  through  Jesus  Christ,  through 
whom  it  has  become  just  in  God  to  justify  the  sinner. 
Such  being  the    constitution  of  the  covenant  of  grace, 


358 

&ith  hath  been  made  the  principle  of  a  moral  and  legal  union 
with, Christ,  so  that  all  his  merits  are  imputed  to  the  believ- 
er, and  become  his  title  with  divine  justice,  as  if  he  were 
one  with  the  Redeemer.  This  union  is  represented  in  the 
holy  scriptures  under  different  images  which  indicate  it  to  be 
of  the  most  intimate  kind.  It  is  the  union  of  the  members 
with -the  head — the  connexion  of  the  branches  with  the  vine 
— the  junction  of  the  whole  building  with  the  corner  stone 
upon  which  it  rests.  Expressions  which  convey,  in  lively 
^ures,  the  relation  of  believers  to  Christ  through  faith,  and 
the  intimacy  of  union  which  subsists  between  them.-^Such 
is  the  virtue  of  the  grace  of  faith,  on  which  it  becomes  a  ra- 
tional, as  it  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  scriptural  ground  of 
bestowing  on  tlie  believer  all  the  blessings  of  the  New  Cove- 
nant. 


OP   THE 

COVENANT  OF  GRACE. 

OP  VICARIOUS  SUBSTITUTION,  AND  ATONEMENT  ; 

AND 

OP  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  COVENANT — ITS  PROM- 
ISES, AND  ITS  CONDITIONS. 


OF  THE 

COYEIS^ANT  OF  GRACE. 

1.    OF  VICARIOUS  SUBSTITUTION,  AND  ATONEMENT. 


t  ROM  the  declarations  of  holy  scripture  it  appears  that, 
immediately  after  the  Fall,  our  condemned  and  unhappy  pa- 
rent, together  with  his  whole  race  were,  in  the  infinite  mercy 
of  God,  transferred  from  the  Covenant  of  Works,  now  brok- 
en, and  cancelled  as  the  condition  of  life,  and  placed  under 
the  protection  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  organized  and  ad- 
ministered under  a  Mediator,  through  whom  their  repentance 
might  be  accepted  with  their  heavenly  Father,  and  the  Ho- 
ly Spirit  imparted  to  sanctify  and  restore  their  fallen  nature. 
In  treating  ofthis  covenant  to  which  I  now  proceed,  the  first 
consideration  which  requires  our  attention,  and  that,  indeed, 
which  is  fundamental  to  its  existence,  is  the  necessity  of  full 
and  complete  satisfaction  for  the  sin  of  man.  On  no  other 
condition  could  the  holiness  and  justice  of  God  receive  the 
repentance  of  the  sinner,  and  admit  him  to  a  new  probation^ 
on  a  new  covenant,  for  eternal  life.  In  discussing  this  sub- 
ject, three  preliminary  questions  present  themselves  to  our 
inquiry.  1.  In  the  first  place,  was  satisfaction,  or  atone- 
ment for  the  sin  of  man  indispensable  to  the  existence  of  any 

46 


362 

new  covenant  in  his  favour  ?  2.  As  man  is  utterly  unable  to 
offer  an  atonement  adequate  to  the  demerit  of  sin,  is  vica- 
rious satisfaction,  in  the  person  of  another,  either  possible, 
or  just  in  itself,  or  useful  in  the  administration  of  the  divine 
government  over  mankind  ?  3.  Could  satisfaction  offered  by 
any  being  less  than  a  divine  person,  be  accepted  in  the  room 
of  the  sinner  ? 

OF  THE  NECESSITr  OF  ATONEMENT. 

There  are  writers  who  affirm  that  Almighty  God  might, 
by  an  act  of  sovereignty,  have  mercifully  dispensed  with 
any  satisfaction  for  sin,  and  freely  forgiven  the  offender,  on 
his  sincere  repentance. — What  God  might,  in  sovereignty, 
have  done,  or  could  not,  in  consistency  with  the  laws  of  eter- 
nal justice,  do,  seems  impossible  to  be  wisely  and  safely  de- 
termined by  us,  and  cannot  be  decided  without  presumption. 
We  are  infinitely  more  concerned  to  understand  what  God 
hath  actually  done,  and,  from  the  fact,  to  pronounce  upon 
its  justice,  and  utility.  I  may,  however,  be  permitted  to  ob- 
serve, that  this  opinion  seems  to  be  founded  on  very  inade- 
quate apprehensions  of  the  necessary  nature,  and  the  inflexi- 
ble claims  of  his  holiness.  And  there  are  many  important 
considerations  which  render  it  reasonable  to  believe  that  the 
punishment  of  the  sinner,  or  a  vicarious  satisfaction  to  the 
justice  of  the  law,  in  the  person  of  a  mediator,  in  all  res- 
pects competent  to  this  offering,  was  an  indispensable  require- 


363 

ment  in  the  government  of  God.  Indeed  the  fact,  that  it 
has  been  made,  is  decisive  proof  that  it  is  holi/,  just,  and 
good.  The  apostle,  in  contemplating  this  subject,  devout- 
ly exclaims  ; — "  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  of  God !  How  unsearchable  is  his  wis- 
dom !  and  his  ways  past  finding  out !"  Now  "  to  principal- 
ities and  powers  in  heavenly  places,  is  known  by  the  church 
the  manifold  wisdom  of  God."  All  the  moral  attributes  of  the 
Eternal  are  represented,  in  the  holy  scriptures,  as  having 
their  most  harmonious,  and  illustrious  display  in  the  death  of 
Christ.  In  no  other  way,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe,  could 
the  holiness,  the  purity,  the  justice,  and  the  mercy  of  the 
divine  nature  have  been  demonstrated  to  mankind  with  such 
profound  and  impressive  effect.  The  accumulated  testimo- 
ny of  his  holy  word  leads  to  the  conclusion,  that,  in  consis- 
tency with  his  perfections,  "  he  can  by  no  means  clear  the 
guilty.  He  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity.  And 
he  cannot  look  upon  sin  but  with  abhorrence." 

When  we  bring  this  subject  to  the  rigorous  test  of  reason, 
reason  pronounces  the  holiness  and  justice  of  the  divine  na- 
ture to  be  not  less  essential  to  his  being,  and  his  glory,  than 
goodness  and  mercy.  The  requisitions  of  justice,  therefore, 
must  be  acknowledged  to  be  equally  necessary  in  tlieir  nature 
with  those  of  his  most  benevolent  attributes.  Many  wri- 
ters, indeed,  we  have  seen  contend  for  this  principle  that 
justice  differs  from  other  divine  perfections,  in  this  respect, 


364 

that  its  rights  may  always  be  relinquished  without  wrong. 
Admitting  this  maxim  to  be  true  in  matters  of  private  right 
between  man  and  man ;  yet,  even  in  human  transactions,  it 
does  not  hold  with  regard  to  its  exercise  in  persons  invested 
with  a  public  character,  and  in  cases  in  which  the  public 
good  is  essentially  concerned.  The  magistrate  cannot  dis- 
pense with  the  execution  of  the  law. 

OF  THE  JUSTICE  AND  UTILITY  OF  VICARIOUS  SATISFACTION. 

As  man  is  incapable,  by  his  obedience,  or  his  sufferings, 
of  rendering  complete  satisfaction  to  the  violated  law,  the  jus- 
tice and  propriety  of  vicarious  substitution  has  grown  up  in 
the  church  into  an  occasion  of  warm  and  uncharitable  con- 
troversy. The  Socinians  strenuously  deny  the  equity  of 
substituting  the  innocent  in  the  room  of  the  guilty,  and  the 
utility  of  accepting  the  obedience,  or  the  sufferings  of  one  in- 
stead of  another.  This  objection  could  not  easily  be  an- 
swered if  the  substitute  were  obtruded,  by  any  constraint,  in 
the  room  of  the  sufferer,  or  if,  from  any  deficiency  of  power, 
or  of  dignity,  he  were  incompetent  to  the  high  and  arduous 
duty.  To  form  a  fair  and  equitable  decision  on  this  subject, 
it  would  be  requisite  to  be  well  informed  concerning  the  fol- 
lowing facts : — in  the  first  place,  whether  the  substitution  be 
perfectly  voluntary  in  him  who  assumes  the  part  of  the  suf- 
ferer ;  in  the  next  place,  whether  he  be  free  and  independent, 
and  have  the  entire  right  to  dispose  of  his  own  life,  without 


366 

being  accountable  to  any  superior ;  likewise,  whether  he  be 
peifecdy  competent  to  the  undertaking,  so  that,  from  the  in- 
trinsic merit  and  dignity  of  his  act,  it  may  subserve  all  the 
wise  and  benevolent  purposes  of  the  law  ;  whether,  also,  in 
assuming  this  part,  he  be  not  lost  to  the  universal  interests 
of  society,  so  that  no  gain  to  the  great  public  of  nature  accrue 
from  the  substitution ;  and,  finally,  whether  the  parly,  chiefly 
offended,  be  pleased  and  willing  to  accept  the  substitute  ia 
the  room  of  the  original  offender.^ 

If  all  these  facts  are  fully  ascertained,  and  these  conditions 
strictly  exacted,  vicarious  satisfaction  appears  to  be  entirely 
consistent  with  the  principles  of  the  soundest  reason.  If  the 
substitute  be  free  to  dispose  of  his  own  person,  and  willing 
to  undertake  this  benevolent  office,  the  rights  of  justice  can- 
not be  impaired,  nor  the  general  interest  injured  by  the  ex- 
change. Perhaps  the  sanction  of  the  law  appears  more  awful, 
and  is  rendered  more  effectual,  when  the  penalty  is,  without 
abatement,  exacted  of  the  surety,  than  when  claimed  of  the 
principal  himself.  An  example  in  ancient  history  has  been 
often  appealed  to,  as  illustrating  this  point  with  particular 
force.  The  legislator  of  the  Locrians  had  enacted  a  law  that 
any  man  convicted  of  adultery,  should  be  punished  with  the 
loss  of  both  his  eyes.  His  own  son  h;«ppened  to  be  the  first 
criminal  condemned  on  this  statute.     The  father,  mingling 

*  Dr.  Wjtherspoon's  LerturfiB  on  the  Covenant  of  Grarr. 


366 

llie  righteous  severity  of  the  judge  with  the  compassion  of 
the  parent,  decreed  that  his  son  should  lose  one  of  his  eyes, 
and  that,  for  the  other  which  justice  required,  he  himself 
would  lose  one,  in  order  perfectly  to  satisfy  the  requisition 
of  the  law.  Every  man,  who  is  acquainted  with  the  feelings 
of  a  parent,  and  the  self-love  of  human  nature,  must  pronounce 
this  act  the  strongest  proof  that  could  be  given  to  the  nation, 
of  the  inexorable  justice  of  the  legislator.  It  is  obvious  that 
such  a  vicarious  substitution  must  have  had  a  more  useful  in- 
fluence on  the  public  morals,  than  the  suffering  of  the  full 
penalty  by  the  culprit  in  his  own  person.  On  the  same  clear 
and  acknowledged  sentiment  in  the  human  breast,  the  substi- 
tution of  the  Son  of  God,  in  the  room  of  our  sinful  nature, 
was  the  most  effectual  sanction  of  the  divine  law  which  could 
have  been  exhibited  to  the  universe. 

Besides  the  obvious  consistency  of  this  doctrine  with  the 
principles  of  reason  and  of  public  justice,  it  is  explicitly  de- 
clared throughout  the  sacred  scriptures,  in  the  strongest  and 
most  unequivocal  terms,  to  be,  at  once,  the  truth  of  God,  and 
the  only  hope  of  man.  The  term  saiisfactiorif  indeed,  is 
technical,  and  employed  chiefly  by  modern  divines,  for  the 
convenience  of  their  systematic  arrangements.  But  every 
idea  included  in  the  full  and  most  c6mprehensive  meaning  of 
the  word,  is  taught  in  the  scriptures  in  the  plainest  language, 
and  illustrated  by  the  most  affecting  images.  Under  the  an- 
cient institution,  on  the  great  day  of  atonement,  and  even  at 


367 

the  daily  sacrifices,  certain  men  were  appointed  to  represent 
the  people  of  Israel,  and  to  lay  their  hands  upon  the  head  of 
the  victim,  confessing  the  sins  of  the  nation.  This  grave 
and  serious  action  can  have  no  reasonable  interpretation  but 
as  a  vicarious  substitution  of  the  sacrifice  in  the  room  of  the 
ofiender,  and  a  typical  transfer  of  guilt  from  him  to  the  vic- 
tim. The  same  idea  is  connected  with  that  office  of  religion 
wherein  the  priests  of  Israel  sprinkled  the  blood  of  the  sacri- 
fice upon  the  horns  of  the  altar,  sanctifying,  by  that  act,  both 
the  sacrifice  and  the  altar  ;  in  allusion  to  which  holy  rite  the 
blood  of  Christ  is  called  the  blood  of  spriuklingy  purifying 
all  things  covered  by  its  sacred  efficacy.  The  language  of 
the  prophet  is  peculiarly  forcible.  "  He  was  wounded  for 
our  transgressions.  He  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities.  The 
chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him ;  and  with  his  stripes 
we  are  healed.  When  he  shall  give  his  soul  an  offering  for 
sin,  he  shall  see  his  seed — he  shall  prolong  his  days — and 
the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper  in  his  hands."  If, 
however,  there  were  any  obscurity  in  the  type,  and  the  fig- 
ured language  of  the  prophecy,  the  same  truth  is  taught  un- 
der the  simplicity  of  the  evangelic  dispensation,  in  a  style 
that  can  hardly  leave  any  doubt  in  a  fair  and  candid  mind. 
Let  me  appeal  to  a  few  passages  only,  as  an  example  of  a 
great  part  of  the  sacred  volume.  Of  the  church,  and  of  ev- 
ery individual  believer,  it  is  said,  "  they  have  been  bought 
with  a  price.  Redeemed  not  with  corruptible  things,  such 
as  silver,  and  gold,  but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Chris f. 


368 

"  This  is  my  blood,"  saith  Christ  of  himself,  "  shed  for  many, 
for  the  remission  of  sins.  He  gave  hioiself  a  ransom  for  all." 
And  the  triumphant  ascription  of  the  whole  church  is,  "  unto 
him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own 
blood !"  The  arts  of  criticism  have  been  employed,  with 
great  industry,  to  give  these  and  similar  expressions  a  remote, 
and  feeble,  and  circuitous  interpretation.  But  every  reader 
must  be  sensible  of  the  efibrt  that  appears  to  accommodate 
the  language  to  a  favourite  theory,  and  the  little  resemblance 
which,  under  this  disguise,  it  bears  to  the  plainness  and  sim- 
plicity of  the  gospel.  The  obvious  meaning  of  the  terms,  on 
the  other  hand,  presents  to  the  mind,  on  their  first  impression, 
the  doctrine  of  the  atonement.  From  the  preceding  illustra- 
tions and  reflections,  we  evidently  perceive  the  principle  of 
vicarious  satisfaction  established  by  the  explicit  and  unequi- 
vocal testimony  of  the  word  of  God,  as  it  had  before  been 
vindicated  by  the  clear  decisions  of  reason. 

THAT  IT  IS  RE<iUlSITE  THAT  SATISFACTION  BE  MADE  BV 
A  DIVINE  PERSON. 

A  third  question  still  remains  upon  this  subject,  which, 
from  its  nature,  and  its  consequences,  is  of  the  highest  im- 
portance : — Could  any  satisfaction  for  the  sin  of  human  na- 
ture, less  than  that  offered  by  a  divine  person,  be  accepted  by 
the  justice  of  God  ?    From  the  whole  tenor  of  the  sacred 


«  369 

writings,  it  appears  that.an  atoning  sacrifice  of  infinite  value  is 
the  indispensable  requisition  of  eternal  justice. 

But  there  is  something  so  awful,  and  so  profoundly  hum- 
bling to  the  soul  in  this  consideration,  that  various  evasions 
have  been,  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  weakening  the  im- 
pression. It  is  asked  whether  some  superior  order  of  created 
spirits  may  not  be  so  far  exalted  above  human  nature,  as  to 
be  able  by  obedience  and  suffering  to  offer  ample  satisfaction 
to  the  righteousness  of  the  offended  law.  To  this  inquiry  it 
may  most  justly  be  replied,  that  no  created  being  can  be  so 
far  raised  in  nature  as  to  make  the  smallest  approximation  to 
Deity  ;  or  to  be  capable  of  offering  an  atonement  for  sin  that 
shall  cover,  in  any  degree,  the  demerit  of  its  guilt.  Any 
finite  being  must,  for  this  purpose,  be  liable  to  the  suffering 
of  eternal  pains  ;  a  sacrifice  that  could  contribute  nothing  to 
the  illustration  of  the  mercy  of  our  heavenly  Father.  Be- 
sides, is  not  every  created  being  under  the  highest  natural 
obligations  to  do,,  or  suffer  whatever  he  shall  understand  the 
glory  of  God,  and  the  general  interests  of  charity  and  bene- 
volence require  ;  and  if  it  were  possible  that  the  most  exalt- 
ed creature  could  have  redeemed  mankind,  and  glorified  God, 
by  any  temporary  sufferings,  this  sacrifice  would,  in  the  na- 
ture of  things,  have  been  an  original  and  indispensable  duty  ; 
and  the  antecedent  obligation  would  have  deprived  the  offer- 
ing of  all  impntahlc  mcril,  which  can  reside  only  in  the  act 

of  a  free  and  independent  being.    But  the  fact  of  the  appoint- 

A7 


370  ^ 

ment  of  the  Son  of  God  to  this  propfciatoiy  office,  whose  na- 
ture has  before  been  proved  to  be  divine,  is  itself  demonstra- 
tion that  no  inferior  victim  could  have  been  accepted.  For, 
is  it  possible  to  believe  that  the  eternal  Jehovah  would  have 
made  such  a  useless  expenditure,  if  I  may  speak  so,  of  divine 
perfection,  when  the  same  end  might  have  been  attained  by- 
means  so  far  inferior  ? 

It  has  been  urged  with  a  triumph  in  the  force  of  the  objec- 
tion, and  with  a  confidence  far  from  being  warranted  by  the 
strength  of  the  argument,  that  the  supposition  of  satisfaction 
being  exhibited  by  a  person,  in  his  nature  divine,  in\  olves  the 
absurdity  of  the  Supreme  Being  making  satisfaction  to  him- 
self. To  repel  this  suggestion,  let  it  be  riecollected,  that  sin 
is  nol  so  much  an  offence  against  Almighty  God,  personally 
considered,  if  it  is  lawful  to  use  this  form  of  expression  with 
regard  to  the  Deity,  as  a  violation  of  the  principles  of  eternal 
justice,  and,  if  we  may  speak  so,  of  the  public  law  of  the 
universe.  And  there  are  not  wanting  many  examples  where- 
in a  magistrate  may  so  far  lay  aside  his  public  character  as, 
in  his  own  person,  to  satisfy  the  requisitions  of  the  law. 

OF    THE    COVENANT    OF    GRACE. 

The  Covenant  of  Grace  is  defined  by  many  eminent  and 
pious  divines  to  be  a  stipulation  or  agreement  between  God, 
and  the  believing  sinner,  to  bestow  on  him  freely,  through 


Christ,  \he  forgiveness  of  sins  that  are  past,  imparting,  at  the 
same  time,  the  spirit  of  sanctification  to  renew  and  perfect  his 
nature,  and  finally,  to  bring  him  to  the  possession  of  eternal 
life ;  which  mercies  the  believer  accepting  with  an  humble 
and  sincere  faith,  that  purifies  the  heart,  the  act  assumes  the 
character  and  form  of  a  covenant.  But  as  there  is  an  infinite 
distance  between  God  most  holy,  and  a  sinful  worm  of  the 
dust ;  and  as  the  whole  transaction  is  a  free  gift,  entirely 
gratuitous  on  the  part  of  God,  to  style  it  a  covenant  is  (he 
language  of  divine  condescension.  Yet  this  is  the  gracious 
form  of  words  emploj'ed  by  God  himself.  In  the  sacred 
scriptures  it  is  denominated  a  covetiant  of  peace  ,*  and  mer- 
cifully announced  as  a  new  covenant,  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  covenant  of  works,  and  the  covenant  of  Sinai.  And, 
finally,  it  is  declared  to  be  an  everlasting  covenant,  as  the 
characteristic  distinction  between  it  and  every  temporary  in- 
stitution established  by  God  with  his  people. 

On  the  preceding  considerations,  I  prefer  another  defini- 
tion, warranted  by  the  best  writers,  more  appropriate  and 
descriptive  of  the  genuine  nature  of  this  covenant.  It  is  that 
of  a  free  and  gratuitous  promise  from  the  Father  of  Mercies, 
to  all  who  receive  the  blessing  with  penitent  faith,  of  the  par- 
don of  sin  through  the  atonement  of  the  Redeemer,  accom- 
panied with  the  sanctifying  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to 
lead  (hem  by  the  grace  of  holy  living,  to  life  and  immortal- 
ity,  all  which  merciful  propositions  the  believer  sincerely  ac- 


372 

cepting,  it  is  thereby  consiituted  an  aclual  and  formal  cove- 
nant. Tills  definilion  is  conformable  to  the  language  of  the 
sacred  word,  in  which  this  gracious  transaction  is  called 
the  promise,  and  the  promise  m.ade  of  old  unlo  the  fathers. 
And,  indeed,  when  this  whole  system  of  grace  is  atten- 
tively considered,  it  is  to  be  regarded  chiefly  as  a  pro- 
Qiiisc  made  to  sinners  through  Christ,  to  invite  them  to  re- 
pentance and  new  obedience  by  the  blessed  and  glorious 
hopes  of  the  gospel ;  when  it  assumes  the  form  of  that  spe- 
cies of  covenant  distinguished  in  our  moral  and  civil  codes  by 
the  title  o(  gratuitous. 

Every  covenant,  however,  is,  from  its  nature,  invested  with 
certain  conditious  which  give  it  an  air  of  reciprocity.  The 
condition  of  acceptance,  at  least,  is  indispensable  in  the  most 
gratuitous  promise  ;  and  althougli  salvation  is  an  effect  of 
the  freest  grace,  yet,  in  order  to  the  application  of  the  merits 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  this  end,  faith,  as  it  shall  here- 
after be  explained,  may  be  regarded  as  a  pre-requisite  condi- 
tion ;  and  holiness  of  heart,  which  is  necessary  to  the  aclual 
possession  of  the  final  reward  of  the  covenant ;  eternal  life, 
may  be  considered  as  an  ulterior  condition.  But  these  con- 
ditions are  not  to  be  viewed  as  constituting  the  meritorious 
causes  of  the  blessing,  or  forming  a  real  reciprocity  in  the 
covenant,  but  simply  as  terms  of  qualification  necessary  to 
prepare  the  believer,  by  the  renovation  of  his  nature,  and  of 
all  his  tastes,  for  the  enjoyment  of  his  heavenly  inheritance. 


The  whole  phrase,  however,  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  though 
amply  justified  by  the  language  of  scripture,  is  technical,  in- 
vented, as  many  others  have  been,  for  the  convenience  of 
systematic  arrangement. 

A  MISTAKEN  VIEW   OF  THE  COVENANT  OF  GRACE. 

From  the  imbecility  of  the  human  mind,  and  the  different 
conceptions  entertained  by  men  of  the  same  subject,  we  are 
frequently,  and  unhappily  met  by  controversy  in  theology, 
as  well  as  in  other  sciences.  Those  writers  who,  from  their 
disinclination  to  considering  the  observance  of  the  moral  law 
as  forming  any  condition  of  the  covenant  of  our  salvation, 
are  stiled  AntinomianSf  maintain  this  peculiar  opinion,  that 
the  Covenant  of  Grace  is  not  made  with  believers  through 
the  mediation  of  Christ  ;  but  has  been  established,  from 
eternity,  with  Christ  in  the  name  of  all  believers.  The  pa- 
ternal Deity,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  entered  in- 
to covenant  with  the  Son,  to  give  him  a  certain  number  out 
of  the  fallen  human  race,  to  be  called,  sanctified  and  saved  by 
him,  upon  his  agreeing  to  assume  human  nature,  and  make 
atonement  for  their  sins  by  his  death.  Founded  on  this  sup- 
posed transaction  between  the  eternal  persons  of  the  God- 
head, they  affirm  the  sole  condition  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace 
to  be,  not  the  obedience  and  faith  of  the  believer,  but  (he 
righteousness  of  Christ,  making  the  believer  a  mere  passive 
subject  of  mercy,  and  not  responsible  for  any  of  his  sins  past. 


374 

•r  to  come.  Christ,  the  sole  agent  and  representative  of  his 
people  in  this  eternal  transaction  has,  according  to  their  prin- 
ciples, assumed  all  responsibility  upon  himself  with  regard 
to  this  chosen  number,  leaving  the  rest  of  mankind,  without 
any  provision  for  their  salvation,  to  perish  among  those  hope- 
less spirits  who  kept  not  their  first  estate. — Good  men,  I 
doubt  not,  have  embraced  this  extravagant  system  as  there  is 
no  absurdity  of  which  the  human  mind,  on  some  occasions, 
is  not  susceptible.  But  to  me  it  appears  fraught  with  pre- 
sumption in  pretending  to  unfold  the  transactions  of  the  De- 
ity with  himself;  and  with  extreme  folly,  leading  to  the 
most  immoral  consequences  among  enthusiastic  men.  This 
imaginary  transaction  has  been  called  the  Covenant  of  Re- 
demption, and  although  so  fanciful,  has,  under  certain  modi- 
fications, been  embraced  by  some  grave  and  profound  calvi- 
uistic  writers.  In  its  unmodified  extent,  it  presents  to  us  ma- 
ny dogma's  which,  in  their  obvious  import,  must  shock  the 
common  sense  of  mankind.  To  justify  the  severity  of  this 
animadversion,  the  following  examples  will  be  more  than  suf- 
ficient. Believers,  they  say,  are  justified  fro  m  all  eternity. 
— In  them  God  sees  no  sin  for  Christ's  sake. —  The  merits 
of  the  Second  Adam  are  as  certainly  and  essentially 
transferred,  from  their  birth,  to  his  elect  seed,  as  the  default 
of  the  first  Adam  to  his  natural  offspring. — The  elect  cannot 
throw  themselves  out  of  the  covenant,  but  their  justification 
equally  remains  whether  they  fulfil  the  law  of  righteousnesSj 
«r,  through  the  frailty  of  their  nature,  fall  into  any  sin,    ^ 


375 

Christ  having  assumed  the  responsibility,  and  perfectly  sat' 
isjied  the  law  for  them.  Many  other  absurdities,  not  less 
gross  and  palpable,  naturally  growing  out  of  their  principles, 
are  found  in  their  writings,  which  some  ingenious  men  have 
thought  they  find  means  of  explaining  in  consistency  with 
good  morals.  For  this  bold  irreverence  of  the  imagination 
some  expressions  of  the  sacred  writings  have  given  a  very 
slender  pretence  indeed.  "  I  have  set  my  king,"  saith  the 
Psalmist,  "  upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion.  I  will  declare  the 
decree  :  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  thou  art  ray  Son,  this  day 
have  I  begotten  thee.  Ask  of  me  and  I  will  give  thee  the 
heathen  for  thine  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth  for  thy  possession,  Ps.  ii.  6.  Sacrifice  and  offering  thou 
didst  not  desire.  Then  said  I,  lo  !  I  come  ;  in  the  volume 
of  the  book  it  is  written  of  me  ;  I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  O 
my  God."  Ps.  xl.  6.  And  Isaiah,  in  a  fine  poetic  rhapsody, 
has  sung  in  the  following  strains  ; — "  Behold  my  servant 
whom  I  uphold,  mine  elect  in  whom  my  soul  delighteth !  I 
have  put  my  spirit  upon  him.  He  shall  bring  forth  judg- 
ment to  the  gentiles.  I  the  Lord  have  called  thee  in  right- 
eousness ;  I  will  hold  thine  hand,  and  keep  thee,  and  give 
thee  for  a  covenant  of  the  people,  for  a  light  of  the  gentiles 
— to  open  the  blind  eyes,  to  bring  out  the  prisoners  from  the 
prison,  and  those  that  sit  in  darkness  out  of  the  prison  house. 
Surely  a  man  must  have  strong  attachments  to  a  system,  and 
a  most  oblique  facility  of  interpreting  the  scriptures,  who  can 
find  the   Covenant  of  Redeinplioa    in  such  poetical   and 


376 

dramatic  representations  as  these  of  the  counsels,  and  de- 
signs of  Heaven,  which  exhibit  Christ  as  the  Illuminator  of 
the  world,  and  that  Great  Prophet  destined  to  extend  his 
church  to  the  remotest  ends  of  the  earth.  But  when  these 
writers  can  interpret,  in  this  manner,  a  political  convention — 
The  counsel  of  peace  shall  he  between  them  both — Zech.  vi. 
13.  it  assumes  an  appearance  little  less  than  ludicrous.  I  per- 
fectly accord  with  the  opinion  expressed  on  this  subject,  by 
Dr.  Witherspoon.  "  For  my  own  part,"  says  he,  "  I  fear 
to  attempt  to  explain  what  is  called  the  Covenant  of  Redemp- 
tion, or  to  admit  its  existence.  I  fear  it  is  humanizing  too 
much  our  ideas  of  the  divine  nature,  and  presuming  too  far  on 
our  understanding  the  nature  of  the  Trinity,  and  the  trans- 
actions between  its  persons,  if  I  may  use  that  human  phrase 
thus  to  give  form  to  their  counsels,  thus  to  apply  to 
them  what,  perhaps,  can  only  be  proper  when  applied  to  the 
affairs  of  men.  Besides,  if  we  give  scope  to  our  fancy,  and 
endeavour  to  embarrass,  with  such  technical  forma  of  expres- 
sion, the  science  of  divine  things,  we  might  find  a  covenant 
in  almost  every  act  of  God.  But  the  being  of  God  is  un- 
searchable :  and  I  apprehend,  there  is  more  of  presumption 
and  folly,  than  of  piety  and  wisdom  in  a  worm  of  dust  at- 
tempting to  modify  his  eternal  counsels  with  himself.* 


*  Taken  down  verbatim  by  the  author  from  a  discourse  delivered  by  Dr.  W, 
before  hia  Theological  class. 


377 


©P  THE  CONSTITUTION  OP  THE  COVENANT  OP    GRACE  IN 
ITS  PROMISES  AND  CONDITIONS. 

In  the  constitution  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace  the  primary 
and  essential  principle  which  distinguishes  it  from  the  abroga- 
ted covenant  with  Adam  is,  that  all  its  blessings  are  the 
eflfects  of  the  free  and  unmerited  mercy  of  Heaven.  Man, 
having  incurred,  from  the  justice  of  his  offended  Creator,  ab- 
solute and  eternal  condemnation,  the  whole  plan  of  his  re- 
covery— his  present  mercies,  and  his  eternal  hopes  are  sim- 
ply and  entirely  of  grace;  not  the  effect  of  obedience  to  the 
prescriptions  of  a  law,  but  the  result  of  the  mere  favour  of 
God.  For  this  end  the  system  of  redemption  was  instituted 
by  Jehovah  himself,  through  the  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ, 
who  should,  by  his  obedience,  satisfy  the  holy  requisitions  of 
his  law,  and  by  his  sufferings,  vindicate  the  righteous  claims 
of  his  justice.  On  this  foundation  of  obedience  and  suffer- 
ing, Christ  becomes  the  author  of  eternal  life  to  all  who  be- 
lieve in  his  name.  And  the  whole  redemption  of  mankind  is 
exhibited  to  us  in  the  sacred  writings,  as  the  fruit  of  the  freest 
mercy,  and  the  effect  simply  of  the  benignity  of  God  most 
holy,  to  the  race  of  man.  It  is  of  faith^  saith  the  apostle, 
that  it  might  be  of  grace,  Rom.  iv.  16.  And  the  Evangelist 
affirms  that  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him,  should  not 

perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.— Tim  covenant  is  establish- 

48 


378 

ed,  not  with  man  innocent  as  was  that  with  our  original  parent, 
but  with  man  fallen  and  guiltj,  through  a  mediator  ;  so  that 
now,  every  blessing  is  derived  to  believers  through  Jesus 
Christ,  rvho,  of  God,  is  made  unto  us  wisdom,  and  righteous- 
ness, and  sanctijicatign,  and  redemption. 

One  definition  of  the  Covenant  ©f  Grace,  already  presented 
to  the  reader,  styles  it  simply  a  promise,  and  states  it  to  con- 
sist of  a  system  of  gracious  promises  given  as  the  consola- 
tion  of  human  nature  in  its  fallen  and  unhappy  condition.  These 
promises  have  been  arranged,  in  diflferent  orders,  but  all  em- 
bracing, in  the  result,  the  same  comprehensive  field.  In  or- 
der to  their  more  distinct  illustration,  and  omitting,  for  the 
sake  of  brevity,  the  detailed  exhibition  made  of  them  by 
many  writers,  I  shall  dispose  them  in  the  following  series,  as 
being  most  accommodated  for  convenience  and  use  in  preach- 
ing the  gospel.  I.  In  the  first  place,  the  promise  of  a  Sa- 
viour.—-II.  Next,  of  the  free  pardon  of  sin  through  him. — 
III.  Thirdly,  of  the  Spirit  of  sanctification. — IV.  In  the 
fourth  place,  of  the  favour  of  God,  and  all  its  happy  fruits  in 
the  present  state. — V.  And  finally,  of  everlasting  life  in  a 
future  world.* 


*  The  analysis  of  the  ;covenant  considered  in  tliis  view,  by  Dr.  W.  presented 
to  the  class. 


879 


1.    OP    THE    PROMISE    OF    A    SAVIOUR. 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  blessings  of  the  covenant,  the 
promise  of  a  Saviour  justlj  stands  in  the  first  place  ;  because 
it  was  the  first  made  to  our  afflicted  father,  after  his  fatal  de- 
linquency. It  is  likewise  that  primary  gift  on  which  all  the 
rest  depend.  And  it  affords  the  first  ray  of  consolation  and 
hope  to  a  soul  under  the  conviction  of  sin.  This  distinguish- 
ed and  leading  promise,  therefore,  embraces  the  complete 
atonement  of  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  It  points  to 
Christ  as  the  fountain  of  every  mercy  to  mankind,  and  the 
channel  through  which  they  are  conveyed  to  his  people. 
He  is  the  great  and  comprehensive  jnomise  made  of  God  mi- 
to  the  fathers,  embracing  in  itself  all  the  blessings  of  the  gospel. 
He  is  the  hope  which  the  ancient  church  of  Israel  waited  for  : 
and,  a  still  more  glorious  distinction — He  is  the  desire  of  all 
nations ;  for  his  propitiatory  sacrifice,  even  when  unknown, 
is  the  foundation  of  acceptance  to  every  true  penitent  among 
the  Gentiles,  as  it  was  to  the  saints  anterior  to  the  patriarch 
Abraham.     He  is,  in  one  word,  tlie  salvation  of  God. 

2.    OF  THE  FREE  AND  FULL  PARDON  OF  SIN. 

The  second  promise  of  the  covenant,  as  they  have  been 
just  arranged,  is  the  free  and  full  pardon  of  sin  to  those  who 
humbly   and   penitently   seek   this    mercy   through  Jesus 


380 

Christ.  It  is  consolatory  to  mankind,  under  the  view  ot' 
their  sins,  to  perceive,  in  the  benevolent  purposes  of  God  a 
Saviour  ordained  for  }he  sincere  penitent.  But  frequently, 
beneath  the  deep  and  overwhelming  compunctions  of  guilty 
the  humbled  spirit  trembles  at  the  thought  of  daring  to  apprO' 
priate  the  merits  of  that  Saviour,  the  blessings  of  that  pro- 
mise, to  itself.  It  requires  the  most  clear  and  explicit  assu- 
rance of  the  gospel  for  its  encouragement  in  making  this  par- 
ticular applicfition  of  the  general  offer  of  divine  mercy.  A 
consideration  which  renders  the  free  and  gracious  promise  of 
pardon  through  the  Redeemer  so  precious  to  the  convinced 
soul.  The  fears  of  guilt  require  the  supporting  hand  of  divine 
grace  to  save  it  from  utterly  despairing.  For  this  reason,  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  his  sacred  oracles,  pitying  the  infirmity  of  our 
nature,  crushed  under  the  terrors  of  the  law,  seems  to  have 
exhausted  the  powers  of  language  for  consolations  and  en- 
couragements to  the  repentant  sinner.  Ho  !  every  one  thai 
thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters  ;  and  he  that  hath  no  money  ! 
come ;  buy  wine  and  milk,  without  money,  and  without 
price.  It  was  the  peculiar  command  of  Christ  to  his  disci- 
ples, to  preach  the  forgiveness  of  sins  to  all  nations,  begin- 
ning at  Jerusalem.  And,  that  no  penitent  may  be  discour- 
aged on  the  consideration  of  his  personal  unworthiness,  or  the 
aggravations  of  his  former  sins,  the  invitation  is  extended  to 
all  men,  in  terms  the  most  universal. — Come  unto  me,  all  ye 
who  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and,  I  will  give  you  rest**^ 
Him  that  cometh  to  me  I  will,  in  no  wise,  cast  out. 


881 

On  this  subject  an  injudicious  controversy  has  been  raised 
on  the  following  question,  as  men,  like  gladiators,  to  shew  their 
intellectual  skill,  are  often  prone  to  contention  on  the  slightest 
occasion  of  diflference  ;  whether  Christ  has  died  for  all  men  ? 
or  only  for  an  elected  number  ?  Those  who  arrange  them- 
selves in  the  ranks  of  the  latter  insist  that,  if,  on  the  princi- 
ples of  their  antagonists,  we  say  that  Christ  has  died  for  all 
men,  we  make  his  death  in  vain  to  the  greater  number  of 
those  for  whom  it  was  offered.  The  former,  with,  perhaps, 
greater  justice,  affirm,  that,  if  he  hath  died  only  for  a  select- 
ed number,  the  rest  of  mankind  are  necessarily  excluded 
from  the  possibility  of  salvation,  and,  therefore  the  offer  of 
the  gospel  to  them  is  impiously  imputing  to  God  a  duplicity 
in  his  transactions  with  the  weakness  of  human  nature,  so 
much  the  more  unworthy  of  his  infinite  goodness  that  it  would 
be  insulting  the  miserable,  with  ostensible  but  fallacious  offers 
of  mercy.  Neither  of  these  parties  intend  the  consequences 
imputed  to  them  by  their  rivals,  and  which  their  own  terms 
literally  taken,  imply.  The  forms  of  expression,  on  both 
aides,  are  imperfectly  calculated  to  convey  accurate  concep- 
tions of  their  respective  principles.  And  it  would  be  more 
consistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  and  with  common 
sense,  and,  probably,  with  their  own  intentions  to  say,  that 
the  death  of  Christ  was  designed  generally  to  make  atone- 
^  ment /or  sin  to  the  justice  of  God,  so  that  God  might  he  just , 
and  thejustijier  of  him  that  believethy  and  that  indiscriminate 
dffer  of  pardon  to  sinners  might  be  fairly  and  ingenuously 


382 

founded  upon  his  dealTi. — And  this  mode  of  expression  is 
the  more  reasonable,  because  the  same  merit  in  the  sacrifice 
which  is  sufficient  for  the  expiation  of  one  offence,  is  suffi- 
cient for  the  offences  of  the  whole  race.  And  the  secret 
counsels  of  God,  which  are  inscrutable,  ought,  in  no  case,  to 
influence  the  duty  of  men. 

3.    OF  THE    PROMISE    OF    THE  SPIRIT  OF    SANCTIFICATION. 

The  forgiveness  of  sin  lays  a  foundation  for  access  to  God, 
and  communion  with  him  by  the  spirit  of  devotion.  Under 
the  dispensation  of  the  New  Covenant,  the  whole  system  of 
nature,  and  of  providence  is  subjected  to  the  directing  power 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  Jesus  Christ,  in  subserviency  to  the 
great  ends  of  the  moral,  and  spiritual  world.  And  that  celes- 
tial influence  which  was  first  employed  to  convince  the  soul 
ftfsin,  of  righteousness^  and  of  judgment,  is  now  imparted 
to  the  believer  to  assist  the  renovation  of  his  nature — to  con- 
firm and  increase  his  habits  of  holiness — to  enable  him  to 
discharge  all  his  duties  with  a  proper  temper  of  mind — and 
to  ripen  his  qualifications  for  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  Al- 
most innumerable  are  the  particular  promises  to  this  effect, 
included  under  the  general  title  of  the  Covenant  in  the  sacred  * 
*  writings.  "  Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  ^ 
will  make  a  new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel,  and  the  !■ 
house  of  Judah.  And  this  is  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  ; 
I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward  parts,  and  write  it  in  their 


383 

hearts  ;  and  I  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  peo- 
ple," Jer.  xxxi.  31,  33.  And  in  Ezek.  xxxvi.  25, 27,  «  Then 
will  I  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  you  shall  be  clean. 
From  all  your  filthiness,  and  from  all  your  idols  will  I  cleanse 
you.  A  new  heart  also  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will 
I  put  within  you :  and  I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart  out 
of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  an  heart  of  flesh."  But, 
it  is  the  constant  testimony  of  the  holy  scriptures,  not  only 
that  repentance  and  faith,  but  that  every  pious  disposition  in 
the  believer  proceeds  from  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Therefore  it  is,  that  all  the  graces  of  the  christian  life  are  de- 
nominated the  fruits  of  the  Spirit. 

The  chief  question  which  remains  on  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  which,  indeed,  aflccts  the  whole  doctrine  of  the 
agency  of  the  Spirit,  is,  whether  at  any  time  he  operates  by 
immediate  influx  on  the  heart,  as  in  creation,  independently 
of  the  divine  word,  the  ordinances  of  the  church,  or  those 
means  continually  occurring  in  the  course  of  providence,  or 
in  the  transient  reflexions,  and  glancings  of  the  mind,  calcula- 
ted to  awaken  pious  thought,  to  inflame  holy  desire,  or 
touch  the  devout  sensibilities  of  the  soul  ?  or  whether  he 
does  not  always,  and  exclusively,  operate  by  those  scriptural, 
rational,  natural,  or  appointed  means  of  instruction  and  grace, 
or  those  secret  suggestions  arising  out  of  them,  which  are  fit- 
ted to  inform  the  reason,  and  affect  the  heart  ?  I  am  dis- 
posed to  believe  that  he  always  works  by  natural  means,  and 


384 

never,  in  the  ordinary  exercises  of  the  christian  life,  by  im- 
mediate impulse,  or  direct  influx,  without  them.  The  doc- 
trine, or  fancy  of  immediate  and  direct  or  independent  inSux 
is  liable  to  great  abuse;  especially  in  men  of  a  vivid  imagina- 
tion, and  morbid  sensibility,  or  of  a  gloomy  complexion  of 
soul,  who  are  subject,  in  consequence,  to  frequent,  strong, 
and  irregular  impressions.  And  when  ignorance,  or  inatten- 
tion cannot  trace  the  origin  of  their  thoughts,  or  assign  the 
causes,  often  secret  or  forgotten,  of  their  sudden  emotions, 
they  are  prone,  on  one  hand,  to  ascribe  them  to  the  influences 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  or,  on  the  other,  to  the  suggestions  of  in- 
fernal agency.  Hence  we  see  men  often  disturbed  by  super- 
stitious terrors,  or  enthusiastic  visions.  One  of  the  most 
common,  and  injurious  effects  of  this  tendency  of  mind  in  per- 
sons of  weak  judgments,  and  warm  sensibilities,  is  a  prone- 
ness  to  decide  on  their  spiritual  state  entirely  by  momentary 
feelings,  instead  of  the  general  tenor  of  their  affections,  and 
their  lives,  compared  with  the  only  standard  of  truth  in  the 
word  of  God.  To  the  law,  and  to  the  testimony,  if  they  speak 
not  according  to  these,  it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in 
them.  On  the  subject,  on  which  I  have  been  speaking,  there 
is  a  strong  analogy  between  the  natural,  and  the  spiritual 
world. — In  the  former,  all  its  movements,  the  case  of  mira- 
cles only  excepted,  proceed,  uniformly,  according  to  the  ea- 
tablished  laws  of  nature  ;  in  the  latter,  its  laws  operate  with 
equal  certainty,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
There  are  no  devious  movements^  no  eccentric  impulses 


S85 

which  start  aside  from  this  order,  according  to  the  dreams  of 
enthusiasts  ;  and  although  we  cannot  always  trace  the  fine 
relations  of  actions  with  their  motives,  of  ends  with  the  means 
which  lead  to  them,  yet,  in  every  case  the  moral  means  are 
intimately  conjoined  with  their  end.  And,  in  no  instance, 
does  the  Holy  Spirit,  more  than  the  Sovereign  Author  of  na- 
ture, act  upon  the  human  mind,  or  produce  any  eflfect  inde- 
pendently of  the  Dieans  naturally  connected  with  it,  and  fit- 
ted to  influence  it,  in  the  moral  structure  of  the  universe. 

4.    OF  THE  PROMISE  OF  THE    FAVOUR  OF  GOD,    AND    ITS 
HAPPY  FRUITS  IN  THIS  LIFE. 

In  the  series  of  promises  entering  into  this  gracious  trans- 
action, I  have  mentioned,  next,  the  favour  of  God,  with  all 
its  happy  fruits  in  the  present  life  ;  including  the  constant 
protection  and  care  of  his  holy  providence  over  those  who 
place  their  undivided  trust  in  him,  and  his  benediction  upon 
them  as  his  children  and  people  in  covenant.  I  shall  not  pro- 
ceed to  particular  details  under  this  promise  ;  they  will  be 
ob\ious  to  those  immediately  concerned  in  its  accomplish- 
ment ;  it  will  be  sufficient  to  refer  the  serious  mind  to  the 
general  grounds  of  the  believer's  confidence.  "  Wherefore, 
come  out  from  among  them  and  be  ye  separate  ;  and  I  will 
be  a  father  unlo  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  sons  and  daughters, 
sailh  the  Lord  Almighly," — 2  Cor.  vi.  17.     Here  is  the 

sure  foundation  of  their  support  under  the  various  afflictions 

49 


386 

of  life,  and  the  stedfast  ground  of  their  hope  that,  in  the  issue, 
all  (heir  trials  will  be  rendered  blessings  to  them,  and  be  sanc- 
tified to  their  use.  "  All  things  shall  work  together  for  good 
to  them  that  love  God,  to  them  who  are  the  called,  accor- 
ding to  his  purpose.  For  all  things  are  yours,  whether  Paul, 
Or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or 
things  present,  or  things  to  come ;  all  are  jours,  and  j'ou  are 
Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's. 

5.    OF    THE    FINAL    BLESSING     AND    PROMISE    OP    THE 
COVENANT. 

The  conclusion  and  consummation  of  all  the  gracious  pur- 
poses of  God,  secured  by  the  New  Covenant,  to  his  believ- 
ing and  obedient  children,  is  eternal  life.  It  is  the  peculiar 
glory  of  the  gospel  that,  in  it,  life  and  immortality  are 
brought  to  light  to  those  who,  by  their  relation  to  their  ori- 
ginal parent,  were  the  hopeless  heirs  of  death.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  know  what  would  have  been  the  felicity  of  life,  or  the 
perfection  to  which  human  nature  would  have  attained  in  it, 
in  consequence  of  the  obedience  of  Adam.  But  it  is  justly 
to  be  presumed  that  the  immortality  obtained  by  Christ,  for 
all  who  are  redeemed  from  the  earth  by  his  blood,  exalts  the 
believer  to  a  much  higher  degree  of  glory  and  of  happiness. 
For,  "  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we 
shall  see  him  as  he  is  ;  this  corruptible  shall  put  on  incorrup* 
tion,  and  this  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality." 


387 

Having  thus  shortly  unfolded  this  comprehensive  concate- 
nation of  promises  constituting  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  it  may 
perhaps,  be  demanded,  if  it  be  useful  in  the  public  instruc- 
tions of  the  church,  to  observe  this  order  of  arrangement  ? — 
I  regard  it,  certainly,  as  not  without  its  benefit,  for  the  clear- 
er illustration  of  the  gracious  system  of  the  gospel ;  and  for 
communicating  precision  and  distinctness  to  the  conceptions 
of  the  christian  in  contemplating  that  institution  of  mercy  un- 
der which  we  now  exist.  It  is  that  order  in  which  its  bles- 
sings naturally  oflfer  themselves  to  the  heart  of  the  believer 
for  the  encouragement  and  consolation  of  his  faith,  and  to  the 
mind  of  the  convinced  sinner,  to  invite  his  confidence  in  sup- 
plicating the  throne  of  grace  for  the  pardon  of  sin ;  and  to 
confirm  his  trust  in  building  his  eternal  hopes  on  the  founda- 
tion of  Christ.  Under  the  deep  sense  of  his  misery,  and  of 
the  utter  impotence  of  nature  to  impart  any  relief  to  his  trou- 
bled mind,  the  promise  of  the  Saviour  must  yield  bis  first 
consolation,  and  offer  his  first  refuge.  Under  the  convic- 
tions of  guilt,  and  of  the  just  displeasure  of  Almighty  God, 
the  promise  of  the  free  and  fuli  forgiveness  of  sin,  must  first 
administer  peace  to  his  anxious  thoughts.  And  when  per- 
suaded to  embrace  the  gospel  in  faith,  he  will  experience  the 
necessity  of  having  continual  recourse  to  the  promises  and 
aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  the  sanctification  of  his  nature, 
and  his  growth  in  grace.  Without  this  precious  resource, 
he  would  find  himself  too  weak  to  contend  against  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  heart,  and  the  seductions  of  the  world.     In 


388 

the  progress  of  the  divine  life  he  will  experience  the  benefit 
of  continually  resorting  to  the  promises  of  the  covenant  for 
his  encouragement  in  duty,  his  comfort  in  trials,  and,  at 
length,  his  support  in  the  great  conflict  of  death.  Finally, 
in  the  promise  of  eternal  life  we  behold  the  glorious  reward 
of  his  faithful  labours,  and  the  blessed  consummation  of  all 
his  pious  hopes.  In  this  order,  therefore,  a  sincere  believer 
will  most  reasonably  be  led  to  contemplate  the  precious  pro- 
mises of  the  new  covenant. 

OF  THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  COVENANT  OF  GRACE. 

Having  treated  of  the  constituent  promises  of  the  cove- 
nant, it  falls  next  in  order  to  state  its  conditions.  Those  who 
confound  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  and  the  Covenant  of  Re- 
demption, pronounce  the  righteousness  of  Christ  to  be  its  sole 
and  exclusive  condition.  And,  if  we  enquire  after  the  meri- 
torious title  of  the  redeemed  sinner  to  eternal  life,  it  is,  be- 
yond all  question,  to  be  found  only  in  the  Redeemer's  righte- 
ousness. Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  adopt  this  princi- 
ple— that  the  covenant  is  made  with  the  believer  through 
Christ,  affirm  that  faith  is  its  proper  condition  ; — that  is,  his 
explicit  acceptance  of  the  gracious  propositions  of  the  cove- 
nant, with  full  understanding  and  hearty  acquiescence  in  their 
terms.  This  sincere,  intelligent,  and  affectionate  act  of  the 
tnind,  gives  him,  according  to  the  promise,  an  interest  in  the 
merits  of  the  Redeemer,  and  lays  the  foundation  of  that  holi- 


389 

ness  of  heart  which  introduces  him  to  the  possession^  and 
qualifies  him  for  the  enjoyment  of  eternal  life. 

A  proper  decision  on  this  subject  depends,  in  a  great  de- 
gree, on  the  implication  of  the  term  condition.  If  it  intend 
any  act  of  obedience  on  the  Tnerit  of  which  the  blessing  is 
bestowed,  it  is  evident  that  the  believer  possessing  no  such 
merit  in  himself,  and  the  covenant,  in  relation  to  him, 
being  wholly  of  grace,  it  must,  in  this  view  of  it,  be  without 
any  condition,  there  can  be  no  covenant  with  the  believer. 
But  if,  by  this  term,  be  intended  the  qualifications  which 
prepare  the  soul  to  receive  and  enjoy  <he  ultimate  blessings 
of  this  most  gracious  institution,  and  in  consequence  of  which 
the  blessing  is  received  through  Christ ;  it  comprehends  all 
the  virtues  and  graces  of  the  divine  life.  With  strict  pro- 
priety, indeed,  they  cannot  be  denominated  conditions  of 
the  covenant;  but  ought  justly  to  be  ranked  among  its  pro- 
mised blessings.  They  are  the  gifts  of  God  through  the 
Spirit. 

In  order  to  give  to  this  subject  as  much  simplicity  and 
plainness  as  possible,  agreeably  to  the  system  hitherto  pur- 
sued, it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind,  what  has  been  before 
suggested,  that  the  new  covenant  is  to  be  ranged  under  that 
species  of  contracts  which  are  denominated  gratuitous.  In 
this  class  the  condition  requires  only  the  explicit  acceptance 
of  the  favour,  with  proper  dispositions,  and  a  hearty  ncqiii- 


890 

escence  in  the  object,  and  concurrence  in  the  designs  of  the 
benefactor. 

The  dispositions,  then,  with  which  we  ought  to  receive 
the  blessings  of  the  covenant  arise  out  of  a  just  sense  of  the 
wants,  imperfections  and  miseries  of  our  natural  state,  for 
which  the  covenant  is  designed  to  provide  a  gracious  reme* 
dj,  and  a  due  appreciation  of  the  infinite  mercy  of  God, 
through  Christ.  A  profound  conviction  of  sin  serves  to  ex- 
alt the  condescension,  and  grace  of  God  in  this  great  salva- 
tion. And  a  pious,  and  believing  estimate  of  the  freeness,  the 
richness,  and  completeness  of  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,  must  have  the  effect  to  awaken  the  gratitude  of  the  be- 
liever, to  inflame  his  love,  and  produce  fervent  devotion  of 
heart  to  the  service  of  God.  Such  are  the  fruits  of  a  cordial 
reception  of  the  covenant ;  and  they  are  the  natural  offspring 
of  a  sincere  belief  in  the  gospel.  Faith  in  Christ  may,  therefore, 
with  propriety,  be  esteemed  the  condition  of  this  covenant. 
It  prepares  the  believer  to  accept  its  blessings  with  proper 
and  humble  dispositions.  And  this  is  the  testimony  of  the 
evangelists,  and  of  all  the  apostles — "  thy  faith  hath  saved 
thee, — by  grace  ye  are  saved,  through  faith,  and  that,  not  of 
yourselves,  it  is  the  gift  of  God.'*  The  mercy  of  God  re- 
quires only  a  willing  mind,  and  a  well  disposed  recipient  to 
bestow  on  it  all  the  plenitude  of  his  grace,  through  the  merits 
of  the  ever  blessed  Redeemer. 


391 

Another  requisite  in  compacts  of  this  kind,  is  a  hearty  ac- 
quiescence in  the  object,  and  views  of  the  benefactor.  Of 
this  whole  dispensation  of  grace  then  the  acknowledged  ob- 
ject is  the  restoration  of  human  nature  to  its  lost  holiness,  as 
the  only  way  to  perfect  happiness,  and  to  immortal  life.  In 
the  desire  of  happiness  all  men  will  earnestly  concur,  but 
not  all,  of  a  happiness  through  sanctification  of  their  nature; 
the  acquiescence  of  the  heart  in  this  object,  implies  the  love 
of  universal  holiness.  Of  this  affection,  the  efficient  princi- 
ple is  a  cordial  belief  in  the  gospel  of  our  salvation,  and  in 
Jesus  Christ,  the  great  sum  of  the  gospel.  Therefore,  in  this 
view  also,  faith  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  condition  of  the  cove- 
nant. But  it  must  ever  be  remembered  that  it  is  a  condition 
simply  of  quali6cation,  not  of  merit.  Merit  in  man  would  des- 
troy the  idea  of  mercy  in  God.  How,  indeed,  can  our  belief 
of  the  most  pure  and  excellent  truths,  although  ultimately  pre- 
paring the^soul  for  her  heavenly  inheritance,  be  the  ground  on 
which  we  can  meritoriously  claim  the  possession  of  the  bles- 
sing ?  Faith,  therefore,  is  only  the  gracious  condition  of  a 
moat  gracious  covenant. 


OF 


SANCTIFICATION. 


50 


OF 


SANCTIFICATION 


The  principle  which  next  claims  our  attention  is  the  sane* 
tification  of  our  fallen  nature,  and  its  continual  advancement 
in  the  habits  of  a  divine  life.  Sanctification  is  an  effect  of 
the  gracious  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  enlightening  the 
mind  in  the  knowledge  of  divine  truth,  and  deeply  affecting 
the  heart  with  the  perception,  and  love  of  divine  things.  It 
is  begun  in  regeneration,  and  advances  constantly  and  often 
almost  imperceptibly,  in  the  stedfastness  of  its  virtuous  prin- 
ciples, and  the  strength  of  its  holy  affections,  till  it  attains 
at  length  the  consummation  of  holiness  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

The  principal  questions  arising  on  this  subject  respect 
— the  nature  of  the  change  effected  in  regeneration — the 
agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  producing  this  change — the 
means  of  cultivating  genuine  sanctity  of  heart — and  lastly, 
the  obligation  of  practical  holiness,  not  superseded  but  in- 
creased by  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  free  grace. 


396 


OF  REGENERATION-. 


Regeneration  is  a  term  entirely  of  figurative  meaning,  an( 
has  respect  to  the  new  principles  of  life  and  action  introduc- 
ed into  the  soul  by  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  The  same  term 
was  anciently  employed  by  the  schools  of  philosophy,  to  in- 
dicate the  change  produced  on  ignorance,  and  vice  in  their 
pupils  by  the  force  of  instruction,  and  the  well  conducted 
influence  of  education.  The  man  becomes,  in  a  great  mea- 
sure, a  new  man,  through  the  illumination  of  his  understand- 
ing, the  correction  of  his  passions,  the  regulation  of  his  af- 
fections, and  the  amelioration  of  all  his  principles  of  action. 
In  the  school  of  Christ  it  assumes  a  purer  and  sublimer  mean- 
ing, and  designates  that  new  and  spiritual  state  of  life  to 
which  the  believer  is  introduced  by  the  doctrines,  and  the 
spirit  of  his  Saviour.  It  is  distinguished  by  new  feelings, 
new  ideas,  new  dispositions,  tendencies,  and  habits  of  the 
soul.  The  heart,  which  had  existed  like  the  embryo  be- 
fore birth,  in  a  state  of  darkness  and  blindness,  only  feebly 
warmed  with  the  principles  of  life,  now  emerges  into  light. 
The  world  presents  to  it  a  new  face— the  heavens  disclose 
wonders  of  creating  power  which  it  never  discerned — it  feels 
itself  a  new  being.  This  change,  in  its  immediate  effects, 
consists  in  a  just  discernment  of  the  moral  glories  and  per- 
fections of  the  supreme,  self-existent,  and  omnipresent  Je- 
liovah ;  in  a  profound  jibhorrence  of  sin ;  in  a  strong  and 


397 

lively  perception  of  the  beauty  of  holiness  ;  in  an  ardent  de» 
votion  and  obedience  to  its  laws  ;  in  an  overwhelming  sense 
of  gratitude  for  the  mercies  of  redemption ;  and,  under  the 
deep  and  affecting  impressions  of  the  whole,  in  a  warm,  ex- 
pended, and  increasing  benevolence  to  mankind. 

OF  THE  AUTHOR  OF  REGENERATION'. 

The  holy  scriptures  in  speaking  of  this  blessed  change, 
ever  represent  the  Holy  Spirit  as  its  immediate  Author,  by 
his  illuminating  influence  on  the  understanding,  and  the  heart. 
A  peculiar  clearness  of  perception,  is  imparted  to  the  be- 
liever's apprehension  of  divine  things,  and  all  the  moral  sen- 
sations of  the  soul,  if  this  language  may  be  employed,  are 
exalted  to  a  much  higher  tone  of  sensibility.  In  this  under- 
standing the  mind  is  enlightened,  not  so  much  through  the 
intellect,  as  the  heart ;  but  in  the  whole  there  is  an  ineffa- 
ble understanding  of  divine  truth,  in  proportion  to  the 
natural  vigor  of  the  mind,  combined  with  a  warmth  and 
glow  of  devout  affection  unknown  to  the  natural  man.  They 
mutually  communicate  their  light  and  heal,  till  (he  whole  soul 
19  dissolved  in  an  enlightened  and  holy  love.  Human  culti- 
vation is  capable  of  accomplishing  much  in  the  arneliorafion 
of  the  manners  and  dispositions  of  the  young ;  so  that  eve- 
ry good  man,  beholding  them  with  the  eyes  with  which  our 
Saviour  regarded  the  amiable  youth  in  the  gospel,  shall  love 
them  ;  but  it  is  utterly  incompetent  to  producing  that  mighty 
moral  change  implied  in  regeneration.     The  most  ingenious 


S9t 

powers  of  human  nature,  raised  to  their  highest  refinement 
by  the  force  of  the  most  judicious  culture,  still  fall  far  short 
of  the  genuine  charity  of  the  gospel.  "  That  which  is  born 
of  the  flesh,"  saith  our  Saviour,  "  is  flesh ;  but  that  which 
is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit.  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto 
you,  you  must  be  born  again."  And  the  apostle  Peter  pro- 
nounces believers  "  elect,  according  to  the  foreknowledge 
of  God  the  Father,  and  sanctification  of  the  Spirit."  St. 
Paul  also  uses  the  following  impressive  language — "  but  ye 
are  sanctified,  but  ye  are  justified,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God."  The  Spirit  of  God 
is  indeed  the  primary  and  effectual  agent  in  the  regeneration 
of  the  soul ;  not  properly  by  a  creative  act,  or  any  imme- 
diate energy  exerted  upon  it  independent  of  the  appointed 
means  of  grace,  as  the  language  of  some  writers  would  lead 
us  to  conceive ;  but  by  means,  which,  under  his  influence 
and  direction,  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  end ;  especially 
by  his  holy  word,  and  the  instituted  ordinances  of  his  grace. 
The  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  ordinary  government  of  the  church, 
never  works,  except  by  the  instrumentality  and  co-action  of 
instructions,  or  providential  dispensations  which  are  natural- 
ly calculated,  in  the  moral  structure  of  the  world,  to  inform 
the  reason,  and  to  touch  the  heart.  For  this  purpose,  he 
has  instituted  the  reading  and  preaching  of  his  word,  the  ad- 
ministration of  his  most  holy  sacraments,  and  the  habitual 
use  of  humble  and  fervent  prayer  to  the  Father  of  all  mercy 
and  grace ;  and,  in  subserviency  to  the  same  design,  he  di- 


I 


399 

rects  the  movements  of  his  almighty  providence  over  the 
irorld. 

TWO  ERRORS  ON  THIS  SUBJECT. 

Two  errors  exist  on  this  subject,  equally  distant  from  the 
truth ;  one  which  ascribes  the  regeneration,  or  rather  as  they 
would  say  the  moral  cultivation  of  the  heart,  and  the  whole 
progress  of  our  improvement  in  virtue  and  sanctity  of  life, 
merely  to  the  reasonings  and  reflections  of  our  own  minds, 
aided,  perhaps,  by  the  word  of  God.  And  supposes  the 
moral  effects  which,  in  holy  scripture,  are  ascribed  to  the 
Divine  Spirit,  to  be  attributed  to  him,  solely,  because  he 
has  illuminated  the  understandings  of  the  sacred  writers,  and 
dictated  to  them  those  truths  intended  to  enlighten,  and  re- 
form the  world.  Whence,  by  a  natural  and  common  figure 
of  speech,  the  Author  is  substituted  in  the  place  of  his 
work. 

The  other  is  to  impute  so  much  to  the  immediate,  and  ex- 
clusive operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  the  instrumentali« 
ty  of  the  word,  or,  indeed,  of  any  of  the  ordinary  means 
of  grace,  seems  to  be,  in  a  great  measure,  superseded. 
Their  language  conveys  this  idea,  that  the  change  npon  the 
soul  is  strictly  an  act  of  creation,  which  is  necessary  to  pass 
upon  the  state  and  dispositions  of  the  heart,  before  the  mo- 
tives of  the  gospel  can  have  any  operative  and  sanctifying 


400 

influence  upon  it.  To  support  this  principle  they  maintain 
that  the  practical  motives  of  dutj  arising  out  of  the  system 
of  divine  truth  cannot  be  discerned  in  their  proper  nature, 
and  their  spiritual  beauty,  and  must  consequently  remain  in- 
operative, till  the  heart  is  assimilated  by  the  power  of  God, 
to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  For  motives  drawn  from  the 
beauty  of  holiness  cannot  touch  the  soul  till  its  native  dark- 
ness, and  want  of  a  divine  taste  be  removed.  Can  an  eye 
which  is  obscured  by  a  film,  they  demand,  discern  the  light 
which  shines  around  it,  till  the  cause  which  obstructs  its  vi- 
sion be  taken  out  of  the  way  ?  Can  the  heart  perceive  the 
truths  of  the  gospel  in  their  holy  nature,  and  feel  them  in 
their  divine  fefficacy,  till  its  inherent  depravity  be  changed? 
— Illustrations  drawn  from  material  analogies  seldom  apply 
with  entire  accuracy  to  spiritual  subjects ;  and  then,  by  pur- 
suing the  resemblance  too  minutely,  they  tend  only  to  mis- 
lead. In  the  present  instance,  the  effect  is,  obviously,  made 
to  precede  the  cause.  In  the  moral  changes  of  the  heart, 
the  blindness  which  hinders  its  discernment  of  the  light  of 
divine  truth  is  cured  by  the  light  itself.  As  in  cultivating  a 
taste  for  the  beauties  of  science  and  the  arts,  the  mind,  how- 
ever obscured  by  ignorance  at  first,  is  gradually  improved 
and  approaches  ultimately  intellectual  perfection  by  present- 
ing to  it  the  mtfst  beautiful  objects  in  the  arts,  and  suggest- 
ing continually  only  the  justest  maxims  of  scientific  truth. 
The  analogy  in  this  case  is  infinitely  more  exact  than  in  the 
t"ormer.     Powers  still  reside  in  reason  and  conscience,  not- 


J 


401 

Witlistanding  (he  deep  corruption  of  the  fall,  capable  of  dis- 
cerning in  a  degree,  thoifgh  it  were  as  the  twilight  before  (he 
dawn,  the  illumination  of  divine  truth  shining  around  them  in 
the  word  of  God,  which  may  be  perceived  by  every  dili- 
gent inquirer  through  the  concurrent  aids  of  the  Holy  Spir- 
it, that  are  now,  by  the  grace  of  Christ,  in  various  degrees, 
universally  diffused  in  the  church.  The  sparks  of  light 
will,  at  first  indeed,  be  small  and  feeble,  but  each  advancer 
makes  them  suisceptible  of  still  farther  increase,  till  they  be* 
come  the  principle  of  a  new  life. 

What  is  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  agency  of  the  divine 
Spirit,  distinct  from,  and  superior  to  the  ordinary  influence 
of  education ;  or  what  is  his  internal  operation  on  the  mind 
must,  like  all  the  works  of  God,  be  inscrutable.  But  the  re- 
ality of  his  concurrent  influence  in  illuminating  the  under- 
standing,  in  rectifying  the  action  of  the  will,  in  regenerating 
and  sanctifying  the  heart,  are  truths  most  explicitly  taught 
in  the  holy  scriptures.  The  agency  of  this  divine  principle 
in  the  moral  world,  beai'S  a  resemblance  to  the  operations  of 
providential  agency  in  the  system  of  nature  :  being  in  all 
things,  perfectly  concurrent  with  the  established  laws  of  ma- 
terial action  in  the  universe.  The  movements  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  where  no  miracle  is  intended,  are  ever  conducted 
according  to  the  laws  of  the  rational  system,  the  laws  of  hu- 
man liberty,  and  the  moral  laws  of  the  heart.  In  accom- 
plishing the  regeneration  of  the  believer,  iho  blessed  Spirit  is 


402 

able,  by  the  finest  lights,  imperceptibly  to  instruct  the  intel- 
lect in  divine  things — by  the  finest  insinuations,  secretly  to 
touch  the  heart ;  but  there  is,  in  no  instance,  any  violation  of 
the  laws  of  the  moral  world.  Nor  is  there  any  end  accom* 
plished,  even  in  the  regeneration  and  sanctification  of  the 
soul,  except  by  means  which,  under  his  most  wise  and  holy 
direction,  naturally  contribute  to  produce  the  effect.  In 
moral  effects,  the  means  are  instruction,  and  correction — in- 
struction by  the  word  of  God,  and  correction  by  the  power 
of  conscience,  assisted  by  the  dispensations  of  divine  provi- 
dence. And  one  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit  seems  to  be  to 
assemble  and  combine  those  various  means  in  the  way  best 
adapted  to  subserve  the  gracious  and  sovereign  designs  of 
Heaven,  with  regard  to  the  spiritual  and  eternal  state  of  each 
individual. 

SANCTIFICATION  IN  THIS  LIFE  IN  A  STATE  OF  PROGRES- 
SIVE   IMPROVEMEN'T. 

The  sanctification  of  the  believer  commences  in  regenera- 
tion ;  but,  through  the  whole  of  the  present  life,  is  continued 
in  a  condition  of  gradual  approximation  towards  a  state  of  per- 
fect holiness.  Some  christians  use  a  language  upon  this  sub- 
ject, which,  I  must  charitably  presume,  does  not  express 
their  genuine  sentiments  ;  as  if  the  believer  might  attain  a 
state  of  perfect  holiness,  while  residing  in  this  world  of  ne- 
cessary imperfection.     The  principles  of  corruption  are  so 


403 

deeply  rooted  in  our  nature,  that  tliej  never  can  be  com- 
pletelj  eradicated.  While  we  remain  in  the  garden  of  God 
upon  earth,  a  corrupted  stock  must  still  send  forth  degenerate 
scions.  Gradually  to  be  subduing  them  without  ever  arriving 
at  complete  victory  over  their  luxuriant  growth,  is  the  ut- 
most that  the  humble  christian  can  hope.  And  the  condi- 
tion of  the  real  disciple  in  the  present  life,  is  only  a  condi- 
tion of  constant  and  progressive  improvement.  Grow  in 
gracey  saith  the  apostle,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  That  there  are  always  many 
defects  mixed  with  the  virtues  and  graces  of  the  most  emi- 
nent saints,  is  manifest  from  the  whole  tenor  of  the  sacred 
writings ;  and  appears  continually  in  the  confessions,  and 
records  of  the  experience  of  the  saints.  There  is  not  a  just 
man  upon  earthy  saith  the  royal  preacher,  that  doeth  good 
and  sinneth  not.  In  many  things,  saith  the  apostle,  we  all 
offend.  And  the  most  devout  and  affectionate  of  the  whole 
college  of  the  disciples  pronounces — If  we  say  we  have  no 
siUf  we  deceive  ourselveSj  and  the  truth  is  not  in  us. 

At  the  first  view  this  idea  seems  to  contradict  the  language 
of  our  symbols  whieh  assert  that  the  believer  is  renewed  in 
the  whole  man  after  the  image  of  God.  But  between  these 
ideas  when  rightly  explained,  there  is  no  opposition.  This 
symbolic  language,  far  from  signifying  the  holy  perfection  of 
the  believer,  simply  implies  that  the  predominant  action  of 
the  powers  of  human  nature  in  him  h  habitually  directed  by 


404 

the  principles  of  the  gospel ;  and  the  supreme  aim  of  ali  his 
affections  is,  to  fulfil  the  will  of  his  Creator,  and  to  advance 
the  interests  and  glory  of  his  Redeemer's  kingdom.  The 
fiesh  may  lust  against  the  spirit  ;  and,  in  some  critical  cir- 
cumstances of  temptation,  the  principle  of  grace  may  find  it 
difficult  to  preserve  its  ascendency  against  the  sinful  propen- 
sities of  corrupted  nature.  But  wherever  the  character  truly 
exists,  there  will  be  found  also  the  predominance  of  the  hab- 
its of  holiness.  Every  principle  of  nature,  every  tendency 
of  the  heart,  all  the  actions  of  the  life,  will,  in  its  general  ten- 
or be  subject  to  the  commanding  influence  of  the  spirit  of  di- 
vine grace.  But,  according  to  the  temperament  of  different 
natures,  it  may  appear  in  some  in  a  higher,  and  in  others  in  a 
lower  tone  of  fervent  piety.  It  is  the  habitual  ascendency  of 
the  principles  of  duty  which  characterizes  that  state  of  holi- 
ness which  may  be  called  tht  renovation  of  the  whole  man, 

THE  HOLINESS  OF  THE  BEIIEVER  IMPERFECT  IN 
THIS  LIFE. 

Some  christians  have  injudiciously  boasted  of  having  arriv- 
ed at  a  state  of  perfect  holiness.  And  a  few  expressions  in 
the  sacred  scriptures  are  appealed  to  as  justifying  this  arro- 
gant claim.  Noah  is  said  to  have  been  "  a  just  man,  and 
perfect  in  his  generation."  "  Be  ye  perfect,"  saith  Christ,  "  as 
your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  is  perfect.  "  Whom  we  preach," 
Saith  the  apostle,  "  that  we  may  present  every  man  perfect  in 


405 

Christ  Jesus."  "  Whosoever  is  born  of  God,"  saith  John, 
"  doth  not  commit  sin,  for  his  seed  remaineth  in  him,  and  he 
cannot  sin,  because  he  is  born  of  God," — John  iii.  9.  Many- 
expressions  there  are  which  speak  a  similar  language.  But  it 
obviously  appears  from  their  whole  strain,  and  the  connexions 
in  which  they  stand,  that  the  perfection  which  the  scriptures 
ascribe  to  believers,  implies  somethingvery  ditTerent  from  that 
state  of  holiness  which  is  exempted  from  all  sin,  error,  and 
frailty. — This  term  in  our  language,  as  v/ell  as  the  correspond- 
ing terms  in  the  Greek  and  Hebrew,  has  obtained  a  figurative 
signification,  even  in  common  usage,  by  which  it  is  made  to  ex- 
press that  state  of  objects  in  which  they  possess  all  the  ne* 
cessary  parts,  and  the  usual  properties  of  the  species  to  which 
they  belong.  We  say  of  a  child  which  is  complete  in  all  its 
limbs  and  organs,  that  it  is  a  perfect  child.  And  of  one  who  has 
rendered  himself  competently  master  of  all  the  requisite 
branches  ol  liberal  art  to  qualify  himself  for  public  life,  that 
fais  education  is  perfect.  The  same  term  is  familiarly  appli- 
ed to  plants  and  animals,  and  generally,  as  already  indicated, 
to  all  objects  which  possess  the  genuine  properties  of  their 
species. — If,  then,  we  suppose  the  dispositions,  affections,  and 
principles,  which  distinguish  sincere  believers,  to  form  the 
characteristics  of  amoral  species,  that  state  of  the  soul  which 
embraces  all  these  properties,  may  justly  be  styled  a  state  of 
christian  perfection.  This,  perhaps,  is  simply  the  idea  an- 
nexed to  that  form  of  expression  by  the  sacred  writers. 
The  christians  were  sometimes  pronounced  perfect  by  the 


apostles,  when,  with  unshaken  firmness  they  endured  labors, 
and  sufferings  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  in  allusion  to  the  athletae 
among  the  Greeks,  from  whom  these  holj  writers  borrow  ma- 
ny images,  and  who  were  said  to  have  attained  perfection 
reXuo^lx,  in  their  discipline,  not  only  when  they  were  well 
practised  in  the  tactics  of  their  art ;  but,  especially,  when 
they  could  endure  fatigue,  and  pain  without  shrinking,  or 
complaint.  Let  patience^  says  St.  James,  have  her  perfect 
work,  that  ye  may  be  perfect  and  entire. 

That  expressions  which,  in  their  literal  import,  signify 
perfection,  are  applied  to  different  degrees  of  maturity  in  the 
divine  life,  and,  therefore,  cannot  be  intended  to  mark  its 
consummation  in  the  present  world,  is  rendered  evident  by 
the  language  of  St.  Paul  himself :  for  that  great  apostle  pro- 
nounces concerning  his  own  state  and  experience — "  not  that 
I  have  already  apprehended,  either  am  already  perfect ;  but 
I  follow  after,  that  I  may  apprehend  that  for  which  also  I  am 
apprehended  by  Christ  Jesus."  This  declaration  by  St. 
Paul  must  be  the  annihilation  of  any  claim  to  absolute  per- 
fection in  other  believers.  And  I  unhesitatingly  add,  that 
the  experience  of  all  sincere  christians  contradicts  this  proud 
idea ;  and  the  professions  of  a  few  weak  enthusiasts  to  the 
contrary,  who  are  little  capable  of  forming  a  judgment  of 
their  own  hearts,  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  an  exception  to 
the  general  conclusion. 


407 


OP   THE    ORDINARY    MEANS    OF   SANCTIFICATION. 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  acknowledged  by  all  devout  and  ra- 
tional disciples  to  be  the  supreme  efficient  agent  in  the  re- 
generation and  sanctification  of  his  people  :  but  as  he  acts 
only  through  means  instituted  by  God  himself,  it  is  a  prac- 
tical question  of  no  small  importance  to  every  christian,  in 
what  way  he  may  best  promote  the  holy  culture  of  the  heart, 
and  advance  in  the  habits  of  the  divine  life.  These  subjects 
are  so  constantly  illustrated  in  the  iustructions  of  the  pulpit, 
and  enter  so  largely  into  the  scheme  of  all  the  practical  wri- 
ters on  religion,  that,  in  a  general  system  of  theological  doc- 
trine, they  require  only  to  be  briefly  suggested.  They  may 
be  embraced  under  the  following  heads  : — the  diligent  study 
of  the  holy  scriptures,  and  of  the  writings  of  wise  and  pious 
men,  designed  to  illustrate  and  enforce  their  sacred  truths — 
fervent  prayer  to  the  Father  of  Spirits— frequent  and  pro- 
found meditation  on  divine  things — pious  association,  and 
conference  with  judicious  christians — faithful  attendance  on 
all  the  public  and  private  institutions  of  religion — and  strengtJl- 
ening,  by  constant  exercise,  the  habits  of  a  holy  life. 


408 


THE  NECESSITY  OP  GOOD  WORKS  CONSISTENT  WITH  SAL- 
VATION BY  FREE  GRACE. 

Those  who  are  unfriendlj  to  this  principle  demand — why 
should  good  works  be  required  of  the  believer,  if  it  be 
indeed  the  doctrine  of  the  holj  scriptures  that  salvation  is  of 
grace,  without  the  works  of  the  lam  ?  In  order  to  answer 
this  inquiry  satisfactorily,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  our 
salvation  consists  not  only  of  deliverance  from  the  curse  of 
the  violated  law,  which  is  effected  through  Christ,  paying 
the  forfeit,  or  bearing  the  punishment  of  our  sins,  and  is  ac- 
knowledged to  be  entirely  the  fruit  of  the  unmerited  mercy 
and  love  of  God  ;  but  of  the  restoration  of  the  holiness  and 
perfection,  and  consequently,  the  happiness  of  our  fallen  na- 
ture. The  latter  must,  in  a  nature  degenerate  and  corrupted 
like  that  of  man,  be  equally  with  the  former,  the  fruit  of  di« 
vine  favour.  For  without  the  merciful  aids  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  a  corrupted  nature  cannot  be  restored  ;  nor  without 
the  grace  of  holy  living,  can  either  the  perfection,  or  the  hap- 
piness of  our  nature  be  rendered  complete.  The  sanctity  of 
the  life,  therefore,  manifested  by  its  good  works,  is  indispen- 
sably requisite  in  the  christian,  not,  indeed,  as  the  cause^ 
in  any  degree,  of  his  salvation,  but  as  the  certain  indication 
of  his  nature  being  renewed,  sanctified,  and  restored  to  its 
original  moral  principles,  and  to  the  power  of  enjoying  its 
original  happineiss.     This  is  the  proper  idea  of  salvation. 


40d 

Heaven  consists  less  in  local  situation,  than  in  the  disposi- 
lions  of  the  soul  which  qualify  it  for  the  enjoyment  of  God, 
and  of  that  supreme  felicity  which  is  to  be  possessed  only 
in  his  immediate  presence.  And  these  dispositions  are, 
above  all  things,  to  be  cultivated  upon  earth  in  the  acts  and 
habits  of  a  holy  life,  in  the  prospect  of  our  future,  and  eter- 
nal existence. 

OF  THE  HOLINESS    AND  PERFECTION  OP  A  MORAL  AND  RE- 
LIGIOUS ACT. 

Jt  is,  in  this  place,  perhaps,  proper  to  inquire  what  con- 
stitutes the  rectitude  of  a  moral  act,  and  procures  it  accep- 
tance with  God  ?  Every  morally  perfect  act  proceeds,  ia 
the  first  place,  from  a  good  motive  ;  that  is,  from  the  desire 
of  glorifyinsf  God,  or  of  promoting  the  happiness  of  man,  and 
from  both  these  intentions,  where  they  can  be  combined  in 
the  same  action.  One  ruling  and  habitual  principle  governs 
the  whole  conduct,  and  presides  in  each  individual  act  of  a 
believer's  life  ; — I  mean  the  profound  sentiment  of  obedience 
to  God,  and  of  Gratitude  to  the  Redeemer  of  the  world, 
which  strengthens  and  animates  the  principle  of  every  par- 
ticular duty.  The  next  requisite  is,  that  the  substance  of 
the  act  in  itself  be  good  ;  that  is,  calculated  to  promote  some 
proper,  useful,  or  benevolent  end  ;  embracing,  within  the 
range  of  these  objects,  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  felicity  of 
human  nature.     Which  condition  excludes,  of  consequence, 


£ 


410 

all  the  acts  of  a  fanatical  zeal,  or  a  gloomy  superstition,  which 
is  equally  the  sacrifice  of  hunian  happiness,  and  of  the  rights  of 
human  nature,  to  a  mistaken  rage  for  the  pretended  honour 
of  the  Deity,  or  glory  of  the  most  merciful  Saviour.  An- 
other requisite  to  constitute  an  action  good,  is,  that  the  form 
and  manner  of  it  be  also  right.  If  there  be  any  mode  pre- 
scribed by  the  laws  of  society  for  fulfilling  human  duties,  or 
of  God  for  fulfilling  those  that  are  divine,  it  becomes  a  chris- 
tian most  scrupulously  to  conform  to  the  instituted  rite. — 
There  is  some  fault  attached  even  to  the  worship  of  God,  if, 
m  any  material  act,  it  contradicts,  or  departs  from  the  rules 
or  examples  of  holy  writ.  And,  above  all,  if  it  either  omits, 
or  adds  to  the  forms  prescribed  by  the  sacred  writers,  as  far 
as  they  are  explicitly  defined,  or  we  can,  by  the  faithful  ex- 
ercise of  our  own  reason,  discern  them.  If  there  be  no  form 
prescribed,  the  mode  which  we  adopt  should  be  such  as  we 
conscientiously  believe  will  best  subserve  every  valuable 
purpose  of  piety.  The  last  requisite  is,  that  it  should  stand 
in  its  proper  place,  and  be  performed  in  its  proper  time,  so 
as  to  be  consistent  with  the  whole  system  of  our  duties,  and 
with  all  the  laws  of  prudence  and  propriety.  If  an  action  be 
defective  in  any  of  these  particulars,  it  is  in  the  same  propor- 
tion removed  from  perfection  as  an  act  of  virtue. 

Many  other  questions,  connected  with  this  subject,  but  of 
a  speculative  rather  than  practical  nature,  have  been  agitated 
by  different  writers,  which  it  would  be  unnecessarily  tedioui 


411 

to  discuss  in  this  place,  and  the  disquisition  of  which  is  of  the 
less  importance,  as  they  will  often  occur  in  the  course  of 
your  reading.  I  proceed,  therefore,  to  the  consideration  of 
the  last  blessing  usually  enumerated  by  Calvinistic  writers  as 
flowing,  in  this  life,  from  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  which  is 

THE    PERSEVERANCE    OF    THE    SAINTS. 

The  idea  annexed  to  this  principle  is,  that  those  who  have 
once  been  regenerated,  and  sanctified  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
shall  never  lose  the  seed  effectually  implanted  by  that  Di- 
vine Teacher,  but  be  able  always  to  preserve  it,  and  perse- 
vere in  the  discharge  of  every  duty  to  eternal  life,  amidst 
partial  fluctuations,  however,  arising  from  the  imbecility  of 
human  nature.  Many  writers  of  distinguished  name  in  the 
church  deny  this  doctrine  entirely.  For,  not  acknowledging 
the  predestinating  decrees  of  God,  and  ascribing  little  to  the 
extraordinary  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  pronounce 
that  the  sanctity  of  the  believer,  like  every  moral  quality  in 
man,  must  partake  of  the  mutability  of  human  nature.  To 
render  the  perseverance  of  the  believer  certam,  they  affirmj 
requires  the  operation  of  some  necessary  cause  incompatible 
with  the  moral  freedom  of  the  mind.  This  objection  has  already 
been  considered,  and  obviated,  when  treating  of  the  decrees 
of  God  ;  when  it  was,  I  hope,  clearly  shewn  that  the  influ- 
ence  of  the  Divine  Spirit  over  human  actions  may  be  exert- 


412 

ed,  HO  as  to  attain  the  most  infallible  effects,  without  impair^ 
ilig,  in  the  smallest  degree,  their  moral  freedom. 

The  following,  therefore,  is  the  only  question  on  this  sub- 
ject, which  requires  your  careful  investigation,  and  which, 
with  regard  to  the  doctrine,  must  be  decisive.  Has  God 
given  to  the  believer,  in  his  holy  word,  such  direct  and  ex- 
plicit promises,  as  to  be  a  sufficient  ground  of  trust,  that  he 
will  always  grant  him  such  a  measure  of  grace,  and  of  his 
holy  influence,  as  will  dispose  and  enable  him  to  continue 
faithful  till  death  ?  A  few,  even  of  Calvinistic  writers,  be- 
lieve that  the  holy  scriptures  do  not  contain  such  promises, 
but  that  the  grace  which  he  hath  bestowed  at  his  pleasure,  he 
may  at  his  pleasure,  or  when  the  precious  gift  is  negligently 
improved,  withhold.  The  great  majority  of  orthodox  writers, 
however,  think  it  reasonable  to  believe  that  Almighty  God 
doth  never  bestow  his  grace  in  vain,  but  that  the  seed  which 
he  hath  once  implanted  he  will  cherish  to  perfection.  But 
besides  the  apparent  reasonableness  of  this  opinion,  they 
support  the  principle  by  many  proofs  of  holy  writ  which, 
they  suppose,  do  either  directly,  or  by  necessary  implication, 
assert  it.  And  this,  indeed,  is  the  only  foundation  on  which 
it  can  safely  be  rested.  All  other  reasoning  is  mere  the- 
ory, and  must  depend  on  the  accuracy  with  which  principles 
are  laid  down,  and  conclusions  legitimately  drawn,  concern- 
ing which  the  minds  of  men  are  seldom  in  perfect  accord. — 
The  following  are  a  few  of  the  passages  which  always  have 


413 

been  quoted  on  this  occasion  ;  and  which  I  repeat  without 
comment,  as  being  more  than  sufficient,  I  presume,  to  sup- 
port the  general  truth,  in  the  mind  of  every  candid  interpreter 
of  scripture.  "  And  there  shall  arise  false  Christs,  and  false 
prophets,  and  shall  do  great  signs  and  wonders,  so  as  to  draw 
away,  if  it  were  possible,  even  the  elect," — Matt.  xxiv.  24. 
"  This  is  the  will  of  my  Father  who  hath  sent  me,  that  of  all 
which  he  hath  given  me  I  sliould  lose  none  ;  but  I  shall  raise 
it  up  at  the  last  day," — John  vi.  39.  "  And  I  give  to  them 
eternal  life,  and  they  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any 
pluck  them  out  of  my  hands.  My  Father  who  gave  them  to 
me  is  greater  than  all,  and  none  shall  pluck  them  out  of  my 
Father's  hand," — John  x.  28,  29.  "  For  we  know  that  to 
those  who  love  God,  all  things  work  together  for  good,  to 
those  who  are  the  called  according  to  his  purpose.  For 
whom  he  did  foreknow,  those  he  foreordained  to  be  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  his  Son,  that  he  should  be  the  first 
born  among  many  brethren.  For  whom  he  did  foreknow, 
those  he  also  called  ;  and  whom  he  called  those  he  also  jus- 
tified, and  whom  he  justified  those  he  also  glorified," — John 
viii.  28.. ..30.  "  Now  he  that  establisheth  us  with  you  in 
Christ,  and  hath  anointed  us  is  God  ;  who  also  hath  sealed 
us,  and  given  us  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit  in  our  hearts,"— 
2  Cor  i.  21,22.  "Grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
whereby  ye  have  been  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption," — 
Eph.  iv.  30.  "  For  us  who  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God 
through  faith  unto  salvation  readv  to  be  revealed  in  the  last 


414 

time," — 1  Pet,  i.  5.  These  declarations  seem  evidently  in- 
tended, and  certainly  are  abundantly  forcible,  to  support  the 
conclusion,  that  those  who  havd  once  been  brought  to  sin- 
cere repentance,  and  to  true  obedience,  shall  never  lose  the 
habits  of  grace,  so  as,  in  the  language  of  the  systems,  finally 
and  totally  to  fall  away. 

OF    THE    IMPORTANCE    OF    THIS    DOCTRINE. 

If  it  be  demanded,  of  what  utility  can  the  belief  of  this 
doctrine  prove  to  a  sincere  christian  ?  This  is  an  inquiry  to 
be  answered  only  by  the  experience  of  the  saints.  And  ma- 
ny of  the  most  pious  christians  have  given  to  it  their  humble 
and  fervent  testimony,  that  it  has  contributed  to  preserve 
them  continually  mindful  of  their  entire  dependance  on  the 
gracious  aids  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  true  source  of  their 
ability  for  every  duty.  And  the  doctrine  may  afford  a  live- 
ly consolation  to  the  believer  in  those  moments  when  his 
faith  is  strong,  and  his  holy  affections  are  most  animated,  and 
fervent,  to  be  assured  by  the  promise  of  God,  of  being  at  all 
times  sustained  against  the  weakness  of  human  nature,  and 
rendered  secure  of  the  ultimate  possession  of  eternal  life. 
Yet,  confessed  it  must  be,  that  it  can  afford  small  consolation 
to  the  most  experienced  saint  when  his  graces  are  feeble  and 
languishing,  and  his  mind,  in  consequence,  often  in  a  state  of 
perplexity  and  doubt.  Its  enemies  stigmatize  it  with  being 
an  indolent  doctrine,  as  if  the  security  of  happiness,  whatever 


415 

effect  it  might  have  upon  the  hypocrite,  would  ever  dispose 
a  pious  and  generous  mind  to  the  neglect  of  any  duty  ;  and 
would  not  rather  stimulate  it  to  augmented  diligence  in  the  di- 
vine life,  by  the  powerful  excitement  of  gratitude.  This  ob- 
jection must  arise  from  inattention  to  the  genuine  principles 
of  human  nature  ;  and  to  the  scriptural  grounds  on  which  the 
doctrine  rests.  As  to  the  first,  the  assurance  of  possessing  a 
felicity  which  we  greatly  value,  and  have  long  earnestly- 
sought  to  acquire,  often  redoubles  our  exertions,  and  always, 
in  a  generous  mind,  raises  its  powers  to  a  higher  tone  of  ac- 
tion. With  regard  to  the  second,  the  grounds  on  which  this 
doctrine  rests  in,  the  holy  scriptures  is,  the  merciful  constitu- 
tion of  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  and  the  promised  influences  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  These  principles,  as  they  have  been  al- 
ready explained,  far  from  nourishing  an  indolent  temper,  are 
connected  with  the  highest  exertions  of  the  human  faculties 
and  the  most  faithful  use  of  all  the  appointed  means  of  sanc- 
tification.  Upon  the  whole,  however,  this  doctrine,  in  the 
discussions  it  has  undergone,  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
has  often  been  treated,  has  unhappily  been  connected 
more  with  the  truth  of  speculation,  and  contended  for  more 
earnestly  on  that  ground,  than  for  its  influence  on  practical 
holiness.  Speculative  truth,  however,  is  intimately  con- 
joined with  practical  utility.  But  many  of  the  truths  in- 
volved in  the  disquisitions  which  have  taken  place  on  this 
subject,  rest  upon  principles  so  sublime,  or  of  so  refined  a 


416 

nature,  as  hardly  to  be  obvious  to  the  greater  part  of  those 
for  whom  the  gospel  was  chieflj  designed,  and  are  found,  in 
experience,  easilj  liable,  in  ignorant  minds,  to  mistake  and 
perversion. 

The  Caivijiistic  writers  appear  to  me  generally  to  form 
their  conclusions  on  grounds  of  the  soundest  reason,  and  most 
according  to  the  spirit  of  the  sacred  writings.  But,  from  mu- 
tual prejudice,  and  mistake,  the  discussions  on  this,  and  seve- 
ral related  subjects,  have  been  managed,  on  all  sides,  with 
less  temper  and  forbearance  than  become  the  professors  of  a 
mild  and  humble  religion.  Consequences  have  been  mu- 
tually imputed  which  no  party  would  acknowledge.  Differ- 
ences have  been  studiously  magnified.  And  a  writer  is  lia- 
ble to  incur  the  censure  of  all,  for  presuming  to  judge  can- 
didly between  them.  But,  let  me  entreat  you  to  remember, 
that,  into  the  pulpit,  speculations  too  abstruse,  and  passions 
too  warm,  should  never  enter.  All  these  doctrines,  so  ne- 
cessary for  preserving  the  unity  and  harmony  of  the  system 
of  christian  theology,  may,  by  a  meek  and  charitable  mind, 
be  treated  without  acrimony,  and  with  a  calmness  and  bene- 
volence of  discussion  which  the  humility  of  true  piety  re- 
quires, and  which,  indeed,  is  best  adapted  to  general  edifi- 
cation. 

Here  would  be  the  proper  place  for  introducing  the  de- 
tail of  the  moral  duties  of  (he  gospel.     But  these  being  the 


4ir 

subjects  of  your  constant  reading  and  study  ;  and  being  too 
tedious  for  the  limits  prescribed  to  this  couipendious  system, 
I  leave  them  to  your  own  inquiries  and  reflections — and  pro- 
ceed, in  the  next  place,  to  treat  of  the  external  seals  of  the 
Covenant  of  Grace. 


^t0 


OP 


JUSTIFICATION, 


ADOPTION. 


Oi- 


JUSTlFlCATIOiSr 


Justification  is  the  immediate  consequence,  on  the 
part  of  God,  of  a  sincere  faith ;  and  is  defined,  in  the  ortho- 
dox symbols,  to  be  an  act  of  God's  free  grace,  by  which  the 
penitent  and  believing  sinner  is  acquitted  from  the  guilt  and 
condemnation  of  his  sins,  and  accepted,  and  treated  as  right- 
eous, only  for  the  sake  of  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ ;  receiv- 
ed by  faith,  and  imputed  to  him,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the 
New  Covenant.  Justification  is  a  forensic  terra  taken  from 
a  process  in  law,  in  which  the  criminal  is  acquitted  of  the 
charges  exhibited  against  him,  so  as  to  be  absolved  from  the 
penalties  pronounced  by  the  law,  and  he  restored,  and  again 
entitled  to  the  privileges  of  citizenship.  This  is  a  peculiar 
case  in  which  the  criminal,  though  culpable  with  respect  to 
every  charge,  is  absolved  through  the  mediation  of  another, 
who  has  satisfied  the  demands  of  justice  and  the  law  in  his 
room.  The  reasonableness  and  equity  of  vicarious  substitu- 
tion, and  consequently,  of  the  imputation  of  the  merits  of  one 
to  another  in  certain  cases,  has  been  already  considered,  un- 
<ier  the  Covenant  of  Grace. 


422 

Justification  is  not  a  grace  of  the  heart,  but  solely  an  act  of 
God's  free  mercy,  absolving  the  penitent  sinner  from  the  pen- 
alty due  to  his  transgressions,  and  entitling  him,  according  to 
the  promise  of  the  covenant,  to  the  inheritance  of  eternal 
life.  I  need  hardly  appeal  to  particular  passages  in  support 
of  these  ideas,  they  are  so  uniformly  borne  on  the  face  of  the 
whole  scriptures,  and,  especially,  of  the  writings  of  the  great 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 

Some  writers  conceive  an  opposition,  amounting  almost  to 
contradiction,  between  the  ideas  of  free  grace,  and  the  impu- 
tation of  the  perfect  righteousness  of  the  Redeemer.  If  the 
law  is  completely  satisfied,  they  ask,  what  can  be  demanded 
more  of  the  penitent  believer  ?  In  this  objection  they  must 
certainly  forget,  or  their  prejudices  must  be  unwilling  to  ad- 
mit, that  it  is  merely  the  effect  of  the  divine  mercy,  that  such 
a  satisfaction  has  been  made  for  offending  man  ;  and,  when 
made,  it  is  equally  of  free  grace,  in  consequence  of  the  mer- 
ciful constitution  of  the  covenant,  that  it  is  applied  to  the  be- 
liever. "  For  it  is  not  through  works  of  righteousness  which 
we  have  done,  but  by  grace  we  are  saved  through  faith ;  and 
that,  not  of  ourselves,  it  is  the  gift  of  God."  It  is  the  quali- 
fication of  faith  alone  which  prepares  and  enables  the  believer 
to  receive  and  enjoy  the  blessings  of  salvation. 


423 


f HE  DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  THE  APOSTLES    ST.  PAUL  AND 
ST.  JAMES  ON  THIS  SUBJECT. 

Jt  is  frequently  objected  to  us,  that  the  apostle  James  as- 
cribes the  justification  of  the  believer,  not  to  his  faith,  but  io 
his  good  works.  To  understand  St.  James,  in  this  place, 
it  is  necessary  carefully  to  attend  to  his  object  in  writing  this 
epistle.  He  wished  to  turn  the  attention  of  the  church  to 
that  criterion  by  which  the  disciples  of  Christ  should  most 
effectually  demonstrate  the  sincerity  of  their  faith,  and  their 
attachment  to  their  Redeemer.  There  were  in  that  age,  as 
there  are  in  every  period,  many  who  presumed  to  recommend 
themselves  to  their  fellow-christians  by  a  boastful  ostentation 
of  religious  zeal,  while  they  were  destitute  of  those  works  of 
piety  and  virtue  which  alone  could  adorn  their  holy  profes- 
sion, in  the  esteem  of  mankind.  Such  false  and  hollow  pre- 
tences occasioned  great  reproach  to  the  nascent  cause  of 
Christianity.  The  apostle,  therefore,  was  solicitous  to  purge 
the  church  of  these  blots  on  the  Christian  name  ;  and  to  con- 
vince the  world  that  the  faith  of  Christ,  instead  of  being  a 
cover  for  indolence  and  vice,  is  the  most  effectual  principle  of 
good  morals,  and  sanctity  of  life.  In  his  epistle,  therefore, 
he  earnestly  teaches  that,  in  the  actual  circumstances  of  the 
church,  it  was  of  primary  importance,  that  the  disciples  of 
Christ  should  exhibit,  in  their  example,  the  virtuous  and  holy 
influence  of  their  doctrine.    And,  as  failh  was  publicly  known 


424 

to  be  the  fundaoiental  principle  of  their  practical  system,  he 
was  anxious  to  redeem  it  from  the  misrepresentation  and  re- 
proach of  infidelitj,  as  partaking  only  of  the  spirit  of  a  weak 
credulity,  without  any  of  the  useful  energies  of  virtue  and 
charity,  which  would  render  it  a  blessing  to  the  world. 
Hence  he  was  so  much  concerned  that  the  gentiles  should  be 
impressed  with  the  conviction  that  the  disciples  had  not  made 
a  vain  boast  of  the  efficacy  of  the  vital  principle  of  their  re- 
h'gion ;  but,  that,  before  the  world,  they  should  justify  by 
their  good  works,  the  sanctifying  power  of  that  faith  which 
they  had  so  highly  extolled.  This  would  bring  real  glory  to 
the  gospel  of  Christ.  Therefore,  whatever  false  disciples 
may  pretend  about  a  visionary,  unproductive  failh,  to  the  dis- 
credit of  their  Saviour,  a  sincere  believer  will  always  be  stu- 
dious to  demonstrate  his  faith  by  his  works  of  charity  and 
righteousness.  So  that  the  design  of  the  blessed  apostle  ap- 
pears to  be,  not  to  make  the  justification  of  the  sinner  before 
God  to  depend  upon  his  good  works  ;  but  to  make  the  good 
works  of  the  believer  to  be  the  justification  of  the  sincerity 
of  his  faith  before  the  church,  and  before  the  world.  Thus 
was  Abrahani's  faith  justified  by  his  works.  For,  as  the 
body  without  the  spirit  is  deadj  so  faith  without  works  is 
dead  also. 

By  some  divines  of  respectable  name,  this  is  called  a  second 
justification  ;  thereby  meaning  a  jiislification  to  ourselves,  to 
the  church,  and  to  the  world,  of  the  integrity  of  our  profes- 


425 

sion  of  the  name  of  Christ,  and  of  the  purity  of  that  holjr 
principle  of  faith  which  governs  in  the  heart  of  a  true 
disciple.  And  this  practical  manifestation  of  a  pure  and  sin^ 
cere  faith,  is,  indeed,  the  genuine  source  of  the  pious  conso» 
lation  of  a  believer,  and  the  only  stable  ground  on  which  he 
can  apply  to  himself  the  gracious  promises  of  the  New  Cov* 
enant.  For,  although  the  inlegrily  of  his  faith  is  known  to 
the  Omniscient  Jehovah,  in  the  first  moments  of  its  existence^ 
as  well  as  at  any  future  period ;  and  his  justification  passes 
immediately  with  God,  before  any  practical  proofs  exhibited 
to  men  of  its  pious  and  charitable  works ;  yet,  by  its  fruits 
alone  can  we  certainly  demonstrate  our  title  to  rejoice  in  our 
interest  in  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord, 

THE  BELIEVER,  NOTWITHSTANDING  HIS  JUSTIFICATIOWj 
STILL  SUBJECT   TO  THE  CALAMITIES  OF  THIS  LIFE. 

The  believer,  notwithstanding  his  deliverance  from  the  do- 
minion of  sin,  and  his  being  made  an  heir  of  eternal  life  by 
the  imputation  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  must  continuCj 
in  this  world,  subject  to  the  manifold  evils  resulting  from  the 
frailties  of  a  mortal  body,  and  frequently  from  a  disordered 
mind.  By  the  introduction  of  the  New  Covenant,  establish- 
ed in  the  power  and  grace  of  the  Mediator,  provision  is  made 
for  his  ultimate  redemption  from  eternal  death,  when  he  shall 
have  laid  in  the  grave  the  corruptions  of  the  flesh.  In  the 
Tnean  time,  tlic  inoral  depravation  of  ihe  soul  is  gradually  de* 


426 

stroyed  by  the  spirit  of  sanctification,  and  all  his  temporal 
evils,  though  not  removed,  while  the  body  remains,  are, 
through  the  covenant,  converted  into  blessings,  and  become 
a  salutary  discipline,  under  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
to  cultivate  the  heart  for  heaven.  And  highly  useful  they 
are  to  elevate  the  soul  above  all  undue  attachments  to  the 
present  world,  and  to  break  within  it  the  strength  and  power 
of  sin.  It  is  among  the  laws  of  our  nature  that,  in  our  edu- 
cation for  eternity,  no  less  than  in  our  education  for  dis- 
charging usefully  and  honourably  the  offices  of  this  life,  we 
should  grow  wise  by  our  errors,  and  that  correction  should 
often  be  necessary  to  preserve  the  mind  attentive  to  its  duties. 

The  Romish  church  taught  the  extraordinary  and  unscrip- 
tural  doctrine,  that  the  sufferings  of  our  blessed  Saviour  did 
not  accomplish  a  complete  atonement  for  the  sins  of  man- 
kind ;  but  that  the  afflictions  imposed  on  believers  in  the  ar- 
rangements of  providence,  are  to  be  regarded  as  part  of  the 
penalty  of  the  divine  law  ;  and  if  the  destined  measure  of 
their  pains  should  not  be  entirely  inflicted  in  the  present  life, 
they  are  to  be  fulfilled  in  a  future  and  purgatorial  state.  On 
the  same  ground  they  have  built  the  still  more  absurd  doc- 
trine, of  the  efficacy  of  voluntary  mortifications  to  complete 
the  requisite  proportion  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ  in  them, 
and  to  deliver  them  from  a  correspondent  part  of  the  pains  of 
purgatory.  But  the  doctrine  most  obnoxious  to  common 
sense,  and  farthest  removed  from  the  humble  spirit  of  the 


427 

gospel,  is,  that  eminent  saints,  for  whom  the  demands  of  the 
law  have  been  already  satisfied  by  the  sufieringS^of  Christ, 
together  with  their  own,  may,  by  voluntary  and  extraordinary 
duties,  inflictions,  and  sacrifices,  lay  up  a  store  of  merit,  to 
be  imputed,  along  with  that  of  the  Saviour,  to  believers  less 
advanced  in  the  road  of  perfection.  On  this  wretched  foun- 
dation, was  built  that  shameful  traffic  of  indulgences,  and 
purgatorial  exemptions,  which  grew  to  such  enormity,  as  to 
become,  at  length,  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  reforma- 
tion in  the  sixteenth  century.  A  single  passage  in  the  epistle 
io  the  CoUossians,  and  that  grossly  misinterpreted,  by  the 
knavery  of  the  Popes,  and  the  ignorance  of  the  Monks,  was 
the  sole  support  of  this  monstrous  fabric.  It  is  contained  in 
the  following  words : — Ulio  now  rejoice  in  my  sufferings  for 
yon,  and  fill  up  that  which  is  behind  of  the  afflictions  of 
Christ,  in  my  flesh,  for  his  body^s  sake,  which  is  the  church, 
— ch.  i.  ver.  24.  The  expression  my  sufferings  for  you 
evidently  refers  to  the  pains  which  he  endured  in  their  ser- 
vice ;  and  that  which  follows,  on  which  the  principal  stress 
is  laid,  </ie  afflictions  of  Christ  6xi-^ui  xpim,  is  a  Grecisui 
which  signifies  the  afflictions  borne  by  him  for  the  sake  of 
Christ;  and  is  similar,  in  the  structure  of  the  phrase,  to  other 

expressions,  7rx0>)!*x}ei  ra  Xpua — vUpi^o-io-  Kvfla  Ue-a — oveiho-fjLOi 
ra  Xptin,  the  import  of  which  has  never  created  any  difficul- 
ty, because  there  is  no  sinister  purpose  to  be  answered  by 
a  false  interpretation.  The  full  force  of  these  phrases  may 
be  given  in  the  following  words  ; — JVho  now  rejoice  in  the 


428 


sufferings  thnt  I  hear  for  you^  which  are  necessary  to  fill  up 
thai  measure  of  afflictions  in  the  service  of  Christ  which  pro- 
vidence  has  still  destined  for  me  in  my  assiduous  endeavours 
to  promote  the  interest  of  his  church. 


OF  ADOPTION. 


In  the  order  of  systematic  arrangement,  Adoption  is  usu- 
ally considered  as  immediately  following,  and  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  doctrine  of  justification.  Few  words  are 
necessary  for  stating  or  explaining  this  subject,  it  being  ra- 
ther expressive  of  that  external  relation,  in  which  it  pleases 
God  to  place  the  believer  to  himself,  than  descriptive  of  the 
moral  state  of  the  mind.  The  spirit  of  adoption  indeed, 
spoken  of  by  the  apostle,  embraces  all  those  dutiful  senti- 
ments, and  pious  dispositions,  which  become  so  great  a  mer- 
cy, and  so  intimate  a  relation :  but  adoption  simply  is  expres- 
Bive  of  the  relation  itself  which  the  justified  believer  holds  to 
his  Heavenly  Father.  It  is,  a  forensic  term  taken  from  the 
modes  prescribed  in  the  laws  of  most  nations,  by  which  a 
child,  not  born  in  a  certain  family,  is  legally  received  into  it, 
and  becomes  entitled  to  its  privileges,  honors,  and  inheritances. 
As  applied  to  believers  it  is  a  figure  which  designates,  with  no 
small  propriety,  and  force,  the  blessings  to  which  they  are 
advanced  in  consequence  of  their  justification.  They  are 
assimilated  to  the  image  of  their  Heavenly  Father — they 
partake  of  his  paternal  protection  and  care— and,  according 


429 

to  his  gracious  promise,  and  the  constitution  of  the  New 
Testament  confirmed  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  they  are  made 
heirs  of  an  eternal  inheritance.  Taken  from  a  state  of  hos- 
tile estrangement,  they  are  introduced  into  his  family. 

This  figure  was  peculiarly  expressive  and  obvious,  at  the 
time  when  the  evangelists  and  apostles  wrote,  and  within  the 
limits  of  the  Roman  empire ;  because  the  necessity,  and  the 
practice  of  adoption,  was  in  that  nation,  and  in  that  age, 
more  prevalent  than  at  any  other  period  of  history,  or  in 
any  other  portion  of  the  globe.  There  are  many  passages  in 
the  sacred  writings  which  justify  the  introduction  of  this 
terra  into  our  systems,  to  express  this  relation  of  the  believ- 
er  to  God  under  the  Covenant  of  Grace.  "  As  many  as  re- 
ceived him,"  saith  the  evangelist  Jolin,  "  to  them  gave  he 
power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe 
in  his  name."  And  the  apostle  Paul ;  "  As  many  as  are 
led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of  God,  for  ye 
have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear ;  but  ye 
have  received  the  spirit  of  adoption,  by  which  we  cry  Ab- 
ba !  Father !  The  Spirit  itself  testifieth  with  our  spirit  that 
we  are  the  sons  of  God  ;  and,  if  sons,  then  heirs — heirs  of 
God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ," — Rom,  viii.  14.... IT. 
To  the  Ephesians  he  writes ;  "  Having  foreordained  us  unto 
adoption,  through  Jesus  Christ,  unto  himself,  according  to 
the  good  pleasure  of  his  will,  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  his 
grace," — Eph.  i.  5,  6. 


430 

Adoption  is  an  act  of  the  free  grace  of  God  towards  the 
unworthy,  and  the  guilty ;  and,  along  with  justification,  is 
the  immediate  effect  of  faith,  and  one  of  the  promised  bles- 
sings of  the  covenant  of  grace. 

Before  conchiding  this  article,  I  will  briefly,  and  in  a  single 
word,  state  the  happy  consequences  of  this  blessed  relation 
to  his  Creator  and  Redeemer  into  which  the  believer  is  tak- 
en. In  the  first  place,  peace  with  God,  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  cause  of  his  displeasure  being  removed, 
and  there  being  no  longer  any  obstruction  to  that  intimacy  of 
union  which  should  connect  the  soul  with  God,  and  that  full- 
ness and  freedom  of  affection  which  should  fill  the  heart  of  a 
dutiful  son  towards  his  Heavenly  Father. — In  the  next  place, 
peace  of  conscience,  which  is  amongst  the  sweetest  enjoy- 
ments of  which  the  renewed  soul,  formed  after  the  image  of 
God,  is  capable. — Thirdly,  the  profound  and  delightful  sen- 
timent of  the  love  of  God  for  his  unspeakable  mercy,  in- 
spiring the  continual  desire  of  acting  worthy  of  that  high  re- 
lation into  which  the  believer  is  received  by  the  spirit  of 
Adoption. — And,  finally,  habitual  and  increasing  sanctifica- 
tion  of  heart  and  life,  and  growing  preparation  for  that  "  in- 
heritance uncorrupted,  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away, 
reserved  in  heaven  for  those  who  are  kept  by  the  power  of 
God,  through  faith,  unto  salvation,  ready  to  be  revealed  in 
the  last  time,"— 1  Pet.  i.  4,  5. 


OK    THE 

EXTERNAL  SEALS 

OF  ruz 

COVENANT  OF  GRACE. 

Ist.    OF   BAPTiS>r. 


OP  THE 

EXTERNAL  SEALS 

OF  THE 

COVENAIVT  OF  GRAGE. 


As  God  has  been  pleased  to  exhibit  his  grace  to  the  world 
under  the  idea  of  a  covenant  which  he  condescends  to  enter 
into  with  the  penitent  and  believing  sinner,  and  provisionally 
offers  to  all  who,  by  the  gospel,  are  called  from  among  our 
fallen  and  corrupted  race,  to  seek  the  inheritance  of  eternal 
life,  we  have  just  ground  to  expect  that  every  ordinary  form, 
which  usage  has  annexed  to  a  transaction  of  this  kind  among 
men,  will  be  preserved  in  this  appointment  of  God.  There- 
fore, to  the  gracious  promise  of  the  covenant,  which,  as  has 
before  been  shewn,  constitutes  its  essence,  he  has  annexed 
his  seal,  in  order  to  add  greater  authenticity  to  this  object 
of  our  faith,  and  give  it  a  more  affecting  impression  on  the 
heai't. 

BAPTISM  AND  THE  LORd's  SUPPER  BOTH  SEALS  OF  THE 
COVENANT  OF  GRACE. 

A  seal  is  usually,  any  emblematic   symbol  employed  in 

^consequence  of  the  agreement  of  parties,  or  appointed  by 

55 


434 

public  authority,  to  be  a  sign,  and  memorial  of  consent  m 
covenants,  or  an  authentic  testimonial,  that  any  transaction 
into  which  we  have  entered,  is  our  own  act. — For  the  same 
purpose,  in  the  early  and  rude  ages,  parties  forming  a  so- 
lemn compact  frequently  erected  a  pillar  as  a  permanent  me- 
morial of  the  fact,  or,  more  solemnly,  built  an  altar,  confirm- 
ing their  paction  by  an  act  of  religion.  Often  they  gave  a 
small  portion  of  the  soil  which  was  transferred  by  the  con- 
tract, a  penny  of  the  sum  which  was  to  be  paid,  or  some 
earnest  or  pledge  of  possession  or  fulfilment  of  the  covenant. 
All  these  acts  were  of  the  nature  of  seals. — In  ages  more  re- 
fined instead  of  these  rude  devices,  some  hieroglyphic  or 
symbolic  Fepresentation  was  added  to  written  contracts  for 
the  same  purpose.  In  the  church  God  has  instituted  sym* 
i)oIicaI  actions,  by  which  the  Covenant  of  Grace  is  visibly 
ratified,  when  he  offers  it  to  the  acceptance  of  believers  and 
their  offspring,  as  in  the  ordinance  of  baptism ;  or  by  which 
they  solemnly  declare  their  acceptance  of  its  terms,  as  in  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Baptism  may  be  called  the  hieroglyphic, 
or  symbol  of  regeneration ;  as  the  Lord's  Supper  is  of  the 
sacrifice  of  our  redemption,  and  of  the  charity  which  should 
unite  believers  in  love  to  their  common  Lord,  and  to  one  ano- 
ther.— These  actions,  therefore  from  their  nature,  and  from 
the  uses  to  which  they  are  applied,  partake  of  the  essence 
of  seali. 


435 

Their  being  appointed  by  Alraighly  God  to  be  employed 
'JLS  seals  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  may  be  further  establish* 
ed,  from  the  express  words  of  the  apostle,  by  whom  cir- 
cumcision is  styled,  a  seal  of  the  righteousness  which  is  by 
faith, — Rom.  iv.  11:  and  from  the  analogy  which  subsists 
between  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and  circumcision. — Both 
are  emblems  of  purification — both  administered  on  the  con- 
dition of  believing  the  promise  of  God  in  the  Messiah — both 
are  the  external  sign  and  confirmation  of  this  faith — and  both 
are  applied,  as  shall  be  shewn,  hereafter,  for  attaining  all  the 
gracious  purposes  of  the  covenant  to  believers,  and  to 
their  infant  seed.  And  this  style  has  been  used,  with  respect 
to  baptism  in  particular,  by  the  earliest  writers  in  the  chris- 
tian church ;  and  by  those  who  were  cotemporary  with,  or 
who  immediately  succeeded  the  apostleso 

OTHER  DENOMINATIONS  APPLIED  TO  THEM. 

Besides  the  denominations  which  these  ordinances  have 
respectively  received,  arising  from  circumstances  peculiar 
to  each — such  as  the  regeneration  of  water  applied  to  bap- 
tism, and  the  eucharist,  and  communion  applied  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  they  have,  from  the  earliest  ages,  been  entitled 
mysteries  and  sacraments. — The  former  terra  was  borrowed 
from  the  pagan  worship,  and  cherished  by  the  converts  from 
that  superstition,  through  a  natural  attachment  to  ancient 
forms  and  usages  from  which  cause  it  was  early  introduced 


436 

into  the  temples  of  Christianity.  The  sublime  principles  oi 
natural  religion  which  were  discovered  by  the  philosophers^ 
or  had  been  handed  down  by  tradition  from  the  remotest  anti- 
quity, and  preserved  in  their  temples  by  their  priests,  who 
had  mingled  them,  however,  with  the  grossest  superstitions 
of  the  vulgar,  were  considered  as  too  elevated  for  the  popu- 
lar understanding.  They  were  separated,  therefore,  from  the 
common  mass  of  pagan  doctrines,  and  reserved  to  be  commu- 
nicated  only  to  a  few  men  whose  rank  gave  them  superior  means 
of  information,  or  who  had  rendered  themselves  worthy  the 
distinction  by  eminent  virtue  and  prudence.  When  men  of 
this  character  offered  themselves  to  the  college  which  presid- 
ed over  the  public  religion,  they  were,  with  great  solemnity 
introduced  into  the  recesses  of  their  temples,  and  there  in- 
structed in  those  theological  principles  which  it  was  suppos" 
ed  the  body  of  the  people  were  not  capable  of  understand- 
ing, or  were  not  worthy  to  receive.  Those  who  were  thus 
instructed  were  called  the  initiated^  and  the  rites  accompa^ 
Dying  these  instructions,  were  named  mysteritSy  from  a  Greek 
term  implying  silence,  because  they  respected  doctrines 
which  were  not  to  be  communicated  to  the  people.  And  the 
initiated  were  laid  under  the  most  sacred  obligations  not  to 
reveal  aught,  which  passed  on  those  occasions,  within  their 
temples.  Since  the  sacraments  of  the  christian  church  were 
designed,  in  like  manner,  to  discriminate  the  faithful  from  the 
profane,  and  were  not  to  be  imparted  promiscuously,  but  re- 
served for  those  only  who  had  attained  a  spiritual,  and  sub- 


437 

iimer  knowledge  of  its  principles,  which  the  world  did  not 
enjoy,  they  were,  in  alhision  to  the  mysteries  of  their  an- 
cient temples,  which  had  acquired  their  early  reverence, 
and  were  held  in  great  veneration  throughout  the  Roman 
empire,  called  by  the  same  name. 

The  denomination  of  sacrament  has  a  different  origin.  It 
was  the  military  oath  among  the  Romans,  by  which  the  sol- 
diers plighted  their  allegiance  to  their  general,  or  to  the  em- 
peror. And  as  the  christian  life  has  been  slyled  a  warfare, 
in  which  the  believer  contends  not  only  against  spiritual  ene- 
mies, but  often,  especiallj'^  in  that  early  age,  was  exposed 
to  the  most  formidable  dangers,  he  is  justly  said  to  pledge 
himself,  in  these  ordinances,  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as 
the  captain  of  his  salvation — to  fight  under  his  banner — 
to,  endure,  in  his  service,  every  trial — and  to  expose  him- 
self, if  necessary,  to  danger,  and  to  death.  And  the  primi- 
tive christians,  in  the  immediate  prospect  of  great  conflicts, 
and  of  persecution,  often  renewed,  by  these  holy  rites,  their 
vows  of  fidelity  to  their  Lord,  and  reanimated  their  courage 
in  suffering ;  especially  by  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  sup- 
per. The  term  sacrament  is  not  found  among  the  writers  of 
the  New  Testament ;  it  was,  however,  very  early  adopted 
by  the  first  christians.  The  apostles  having  represented 
the  service  of  the  cross  under  allusions  borrowed  from  a  state 
of  warfare,  and  their  followers  finding,  in  painful  experience, 
the  perils  and  sufferings  they  were  compelled  to  endure,  soon 


438 

gpplied  to  the  vows  by  vrhich  they  devoted  themselves  to 
their  Redeemer,  a  title  go  familiar  to  them  in  the  military  life. 

THE  DESIGN  OF  THE  EXTERNAL  SEALS  OF  THE  COVENANT. 

It  is  of  importance  to  every  christian  distinctly  to  understand 
the  import  of  his  public  use  of  the  seals  of  the  Covenant,  and  of 
the  obligations  which  he  imposes  on  his  soul  by  this  solemn 
act.  Annexing  our  seal  to  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  or  using 
the  seal  which  God  has  appointed,  necessarily  implies  our  full 
belief  of  the  precious  doctrines  involved  in  that  covenant,  and 
a  hearty  acquiescence  in  all  its  conditions.  It  implies,  at  the 
same  time,  a  vow  of  consecration,  by  which  he  renews  his 
self-devotion  to  the  service  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 
And,  lastly,  it  implies,  with  regard  to  the  believer  himself, 
a  personal  ratification  of  the  Covenant,  on  his  part,  by  a  sen- 
sible symbol  calculated  more  strongly  to  authenticate  the 
transaction— to  assist  faith  by  the  co-operation  of  sense — to 
fix  a  deeper  impression  on  the  heart,  thereby  confirming  the 
purposes  of  duty,  and  leaving  a  more  awful  testimony  for  God, 
if  he  should  afterwards  prove  unfaithful  to  this  most  sacred 
of  our  duties  in  the  church. 

THE  DIFFERENT  IMPORT  OF  THE  TWO  SEALS. 

The  ordinances  of  baptism,  and  the  Lord's  supper,  being 
both  regarded  as  the  seals  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  it  is 


439 

uecessaiy,  with  particular  care,  to  attend  to  the  proper  dis- 
tinction existing  between  them.  The  former  maj  be  regard- 
ed chiefly  as  the  seal  annexed  immediatelj  by  God,  through 
his  public  servants  in  the  church,  to  this  covenant,  to  give  it 
authenticity,  and  to  ratify  it  on  his  part  to  his  people.  The 
latter  may  be  considered  principally  as  the  seal  annexed  by 
the  believer  to  the  same  covenant,  confirming  his  acceptance 
of  its  terms,  and  laying  his  soul,  by  that  act,  under  the  most 
sacred  obligations  of  obedience.  A  covenant,  being  a  mutual 
stipulation,  requires,  in  order  to  its  completion,  the  seals  of 
the  respective  parties.  God,  by  the  ministry  of  his  servants, 
who  are  officers  in  his  church,  annexes  his  own  seal  in 
baptism  ;  and  in  the  communion  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the 
Lord,  the  believer  personally  affixes  his  seal  to  the  same  in- 
strument. The  veracity  of  God,  indeed,  needs  no  such  ad- 
ventitious confirmation.  But  as  he  has  been  pleased  so  faP 
to  adapt  himself  to  the  weakness  of  human  nature,  which  is 
ever  strongly  moved  by  sensible  impressions,  he  has  not  only 
offered  his  grace  to  the  world  in  the  form  which  takes  place 
in  covenant  transactions  among  men,  but  confirmed  it,  accord- 
ing to  the  same  customs,  by  the  legal  and  authoritative  sanc- 
tion of  a  seal.  That  baptism  is  to  be  viewed  chiefly  as  the 
seal  of  God  affixed  to  his  own  covenant,  may  be  concluded, 
not  only  from  the  ordinary  forms  of  this  instrument,  but  from 
its  analogy  to  circumcision,  in  the  room  of  which  rite  it  has 
manifestly  been  substituted.  The  apostle  declares  that  Abra- 
ham received,  from  God,  circttmclsion,  a  seal  of  the  right- 


440 

eousness  which  is  by  faith  ;  that  is,  a  sign  and  assurance  that, 
through  the  Redeemer,  he  would  accept  the  righteousness  of 
faith  instead  of  the  perfect  obedience  of  the  original  law  of 
works.  You  observe  the  style  of  the  expression : — The 
seal  of  circumcision  he  received  from  God  confirming  this 
gracious  privilege  to  the  believing  patriarch.  It  is  not  said 
that  he  gave  this  rite  or  seal  as  a  pledge  of  his  own  obedience^ 

The  intention  of  the  rite  is  justly  argued  from  its  being  ap« 
plied  to  the  infant  offspring  of  Abraham  as  it  is  now  admin- 
istered to  the  children  of  christian  parents  who  are  the  spir- 
itual seed  of  Abraham.  Infants,  of  this  tender  age,  are  not 
capable  of  any  covenant  transaction  by  themselves,  and  in 
their  own  name  ;  but  they  are  susceptible  of  provisional  and 
covenanted  blessings  through  their  parents  from  the  infinite 
Author  of  all  mercy  and  grace.  And  surely  it  is  a  blessing, 
and  an  act  of  grace  of  the  first  magnitude,  in  God,  to  meet 
us  who  were  heirs  of  death,  at  our  entrance  into  the  world, 
by  the  provisional  propositions  of  salvation  through  Jesus 
Christ,  visibly  ratified  under  the  seal  of  that  covenant  which 
cancels  the  condemnation  of  the  violated  law,  and  places  us 
by  this  act,  publicly  and  solemnly  under  the  dispensation  of 
mercy  in  the  New  Covenant  established  with  the  second 
Adam. 

I  add,  that,  although  baptism  is  to  be  regarded  chiefly  as 
the  seal  of  God,  which  he  visibly  and  publicly  annexes  by 


5:-^ 


441 

the  church,  to  his  own  proffers  of  mercy  ;  yet,  as  the  rites  of 
religion  maj,  frequently,  be  taken  in  a  double  sense,  this  or- 
dinance, as  it  respects  the  act  of  the  parent,  may  be  viewed 
also  as  his  own  seal,  by  which  he  declares  his  belief,  and  ac- 
ceptance of  the  covenant,  its  promises,  conditions  and  duties 
on  his  own  behalf — his  choice  of  its  blessings  as  the  portion 
of  his  child — and  his  consecration  of  himself,  and  his  precious 
offspring,  to  the  glory  and  service  of  Almighty  God. 

1.  Baptism  is  our  christian  circumcision,  a  seal  of  the 
righteousness  which  is  by  faith.     But  that  we  may  have  a 
clearer  view  of  the  nature  and  importance  of  this  ordinance, 
we  must  go  back  to  the  origin  of  its  type  in  the  ancient 
church.     When  religious  truth  was  likely  to  perish  from  the 
world,  which,  in  a  few  ages  after  the  deluge,  was  overwhelm- 
ed in  idolatry,  and  sunk  in  extreme  dissolution  of  manners, 
it  pleased  God,  nearly  in  the  beginning  of  that  general  dark- 
ness and  corruption,  to  establish  a  church  in  which  he  might 
preserve  the  knowledge  of  his  name,  and  deposit  his  holy 
oracles,  with  the  future  hopes  of  the  universe.     This  church 
consisted,  in  the  beginning,  of  the  single  family  of  Abraham, 
with  whom  he  entered  into  a  gracious  covenant,  accepting, 
as  his  title  to  eternal  life,  the  righteousness  of  faith  in  the  fu- 
ture Saviour,*  who  was  to  spring  from  his  own  loins ;  engaging 


*  This  is  fairly  inferred  from  the  expression  of  the  apostle,  who  styles  the  sea! 
of  the  Abrahamic  Covenant  the  seal  of  the  righteousness  nhick  is  hy  faith, 

56 


442 

that  he  would  be  a  God  to  him,  and  to  his  seed  after  him ; 
and  promising  that,  finally,  in  him  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  should  be  blessed  by  the  advent  of  the  Messiah.  That 
this  grace  might  be  rendered  the  more  sure,  and  that  the 
faith  of  this  chosen  friend  of  God  might  have  the  firmer 
ground  on  which  to  rest,  he  added  to  his  promise  his  sacra- 
mental seal  or  oath,  that,  by  two  immutable  things  in  which 
it  was  impossible  for  God  to  lie,  Abraham,  and  all  who  fol- 
low the  faith  of  Abraham,  might  have  strong  consolation, 
who  have  fled  for  refuge  to  lay  hold  of  the  hope  set  before 
them.  For,  saith  the  apostle,  Abraham  received  circum- 
cision a  seal  of  the  righteousness,  that  is,  of  the  means  of 
justification  and  acceptance  with  God,  which  is  by  faith. — 
This  covenant,  with  all  its  appendages  of  rites  and  forms,  of 
types  and  symbols,  of  prophets  and  priests,  of  altars  and  vic- 
tims, with  all  its  doctrines,  its  precepts,  and  its  promises,  was 
placed  in  the  keeping  of  the  church,  for  its  consolation,  for 
its  instruction  in  righteousness,  and  for  the  quickening  and 
direction  in  the  divine  life  of  all  true  believers.  If  we  ask, 
then,  with  the  apostle,  what  profit  is  there  of  circumcision  ? 
the  answer  will  yield  some  useful  lights  on  this  subject.  It 
is  the  seal  which  God  has  been  pleased  to  annex  to  the  pro- 
positions of  his  mercy,  by  which  anciently  he  confirmed  to 
the  church  the  great  charter  of  her  spiritual  privileges,  and 
which,  being  impressed  on  every  Israelite,  continually  re- 
minded him  of  his  obligations — continually  placed  before  him 
his  duties,  and  his  immortal  hopes — assured  him  of  the  gra- 


443 

cious  protection  of  Almighty  God,  and  designated  him  as  a 
member  of  tliat  chosen  community  to  whose  pious  custody 
were  committed  his  holy  oracles,  those  precious  treasures  of 
divine  truth.  While  other  nations  were  left  to  the  obscure 
teachings  of  nature,  and  the  errors  of  a  depraved  reason,  this 
sealed  nation  were  made  the  depositaries  of  clearer  lights, 
and  the  heirs  of  sublimer  hopes.  The  emblems  which  were 
engraven,  if  I  may  speak  so,  on  that  seal,  I  mean  the  blood 
of  circumcision,  corresponding  with  the  water  of  baptism, 
pointed  to  that  purity  of  heart  which  is  the  end  of  all  true 
religion ;  and  to  that  precious  blood,  which  is,  at  once,  the 
purchase  of  our  salvation,  and  the  fountain  in  which  all  our 
sins  are  cleansed.  Such  was  the  benefit  of  this  ancient  rite 
to  the  church  founded  in  Abraham,  and  afterwards  embracing 
all  the  posterity  of  Israel :  to  them  were  committed  the  ora- 
cles of  God  with  all  their  lights,  their  hopes,  their  graces,  their 
means  of  holiness,  and  of  eternal  life. 

These  brief  expositions  will  afford  some  principles  by 
which  to  explain  the  nature  and  the  benefits  of  that  baptismal 
rite  which  Christ  has  substituted  in  the  room  of  the  Abra- 
hamic  and  Mosaic  symbol  of  the  promise.  Baptism  is  our 
christian  circumcision ;  the  seal  of  a  more  pure  and  luminous 
dispensation  of  the  covenant  than  that  either  of  Moses,  or  of 
Abraham.  And  it  is  with  the  view  of  proposing,  as  far  as  I 
am  able,  some  precise  and  definite  ideas  on  this  initiating  in- 
stitution of  the  christian  church,  that  I  have  made  these  pre^^ 


444 

fafory  observations  on  the  corresponding  rite  of  the  preced- 
ing dispensation. 

That  I  may  give  as  much  perspicuity  and  precision  as  pos- 
sible to  our  ideas  concerning  this  holy  ordinance,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  go  into  some  details  concerning  i(s  original  in- 
stitution and  design,  and  its  proper  subjects  ;  because  with 
these  its  benefits  are  intimately  connected,  and  from  them  its 
duties  and  obligations  immediately  result. 

1.  The  nature  and  design  of  baptism  may  be  rendered  ob- 
vious from  two  sources  of  illustration  ;  one  is  the  use  and  ap- 
plication of  a  similar  rite  which  was  frequent  in  the  ancient 
Jewish  and  Greek  nations,  whence,  probably,  it  was  trans- 
ferred into  the  christian  church ;  the  other  is  the  denomina- 
tion, borrowed  from  the  Abrahamic  dispensation  of  the  cov- 
enant, which,  from  the  very  first  ages,  it  has  received  among 
christians,  of  a  seal  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace. 

Many  of  the  great  and  distinguished  teachers,  and  founders 
of  sects  among  the  Jews,  applied  baptism  as  a  rite  of  initia- 
tion into  their  respective  schools.  It  was  a  symbol  of  disci- 
pleship,  and  regarded  as  an  emblem  of  that  purity  of  mind, 
and  that  virtuous  simplicity  of  manners,  which  spring  from 
the  love  of  truth,  and  are  expected  in  all  those  who  are  en- 
gaged in  the  pursuit  of  wisdom.  Such  was,  probably,  the 
meaning  of  the  baptism  of  John,  the  great  forerunner  of  the 


445 

Messiah."*  He  taught  a  nc\r  and  more  rigorous  discipline 
of  repentance  than  was  known  to  the  Jews  of  that  age.  And 
the  disciples  who  followed  him,  admiring  the  sanctity  of  his 
doctrine,  and  the  abstemious  purity  of  his  manners,  he  ini- 
tiated bj  baptism,f  preparing  them,  in  this  manner,  for  that 
still  more  pure  and  perfect  discipline  which  was  shortly  to  be 
introduced  by  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  It  was,  besides,  re- 
quired by  the  customs  of  that  nation,  that  all  proselytes  from 
among  the  gentiles  should  be  initiated  into  the  church  of  Is- 
rael, and  make  their  profession  of  the  doctrines  of  Moses,  and 
the  prophets,  by  baptism. 

The  ordinance  of  baptism,  therefore,  considered  simply  in 
the  view  which  has  just  been  presented  to  you,  contains  a 
pledge  of  our  discipleship — a  public  avowal  of  Christ  as  our 
great  Master  and  Teacher— an  explicit  profession  of  our 
faith  in  the  doctrines  taught  by  his  Spirit  in  those  holy  ora- 
cles committed  to  the  custody  of  his  church  for  its  illumina- 
tion and  sanctification. 


*  The  same  rite  of  initiation  into  their  schoolg,  and  with  the  same  meaning,  was 
frequently  used  by  the  philosophers  of  Greece,  as  well  as  of  many  eastern  nations, 
from  whom  the  Greeks  borrowed  it. 

f  This  fact  serves  to  explain  a  passage  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Paul  meet- 
ing with  certain  disciples  in  Asia  who  were  very  imperfectly  instructed  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  gospel,  demanded  of  them  unto  nhai  they  had  hem  baptised}  that  is, 
to  what  system  of  doctrines  ?  They  answered,  wvto  John's  baptism.  They  were 
disciples  of  John,  and  had  embraced  only  the  doctrine  of  repentance  which  he 
had  taught.  This  custom  explains  the  meaning  of  St.  Paul  when  he  tlianks  God 
that  he  had  baptised  none  of  them  but  Crispus  and  Gaiiis,  lest  any  should  say  he  had 
baplised  in  kiv  own  name,  thereby  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  a  new  sect. 


446 

Although  a  man,  at  the  age  of  reason,  may  justly  make 
this  profession  for  himself,  it  may  be  asked,  perhaps,  if  a  pa- 
rent can  rightfully  make  it  in  the  name  of  his  infant,  so  that, 
when  that  infant  shall  have  arrived  at  maturity,  it  shall  be  le- 
gally considered  as  his  act  ?  Whatever  differences  of  opin- 
ion may  exist  with  regard  to  this  question,  according  to  the 
various  lights  in  which  the  subject  of  it  may  be  viewed,  all 
will  agree  in  the  following  principle,  that  it  is  both  the  right, 
and  the  duty  of  a  parent  to  place  his  beloved  offspring  un- 
der the  best  means  to  enlighten  and  cultivate  their  minds,  to 
form  their  hearts,  to  regulate  their  lives,  and  to  prepare 
them,  if  possible,  for  the  highest  happiness,  both  in  this 
world,  and  the  world  to  come :  in  one  word,  to  initiate  them 
in  the  school  of  Christ."^  This  school  is  the  church  :  these 
means  of  education  are  the  ordinances,  the  instructions,  the 
discipline,  the  watchful  care,  and  prayers  of  the  church. 
And  it  is  one,  and  not  the  least  of  the  spiritual  blessings  re- 
sulting from  baptism  in  infancy,  that,  thereby,  parents,  in 
addition  to  the  tender  constraints  of  natural  duty,  impose  up- 
on themselves  the  most  solemn  voluntary  obligations  to  train 


*  Upon  this  subject,  one  would  think  that  there  could  not  exist  any  diversity 
of  opinion.  It  seems  to  be  a  manifest  principle  of  justice,  that  a  parent  has  a 
right  to  enter  into  contract,  or  to  make  any  engagement  in  the  name  of  his  child, 
for  his  benefit,  which  it  is  the  privilege  of  his  child,  when  he  arrives  at  mature 
age,  to  accept ;  although  he  is  at  liberty  also,  to  his  own  detriment,  to  reject  ■ 
and  which,  if  it  involves  his  duty,  as  well  as  his  interest,  as  in  the  present  case, 
he  is  under  sacred  obligations  to  fulfil.  Such  engagement  is  not  imposing  on  our 
posterity  a  burden,  but  gaining  for  them  a  bmffd. 


447 

up  their  children  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord; 
and  that  children  enjoy  still  further  advantages  by  being 
placed  under  the  immediate  and  special  care  of  that  holy- 
community  to  whom  are  committed  the  oracles  of  God. 

2.  But  there  is  another  and  more  interesting  light  in  which 
this  ordinance  is  to  be  viewed.  It  is  the  seal  by  which  God 
has  condescended  visibly  to  confirm  to  the  church  the  bles- 
sings of  the  New  Covenant  which  he  has  graciously  estab- 
lished in  Christ  for  the  redemption  of  the  world.  This  was 
the  import  of  the  correspondent  rite  of  the  church  of  Israel. 
God  gave  to  Abraham  circumcision  a  seal  of  the  righteouS' 
ness  rvhich  is  by  faith.'^  And  this  is  one  of  the  principal 
denominations  by  Avbich  baptism  has  been  designated  in  the 
christian  church  from  the  earliest  ages.  But  here  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  remark  and  correct  an  error  upon  this  subject 
which  has  unhappily  disturbed  the  ideas  of  many  good  and 
excellent  men.     Baptism  has  been  regarded  by  them  as  the 


*  A  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the  faith  which  he  had,  being  uncircumcised. 
'J'liis  expression  cannot  reagonably  be  supposed  to  mean,  as  has  been  asserted  by 
some  writers,  merely  a  declaration  of  the  sincerity  of  Abraham's  faith  ;  for  this 
seal  was  administered  to  the  offspring  of  Abraham  at  an  ajc  in  which  no  such  de- 
claration could  be  expected  from  them.  Besides,  the  apostle,  in  the  place  is 
speaking  of  circumcision,  not  merely  as  a  sign  given  to  Abraham  in  particular, 
but  as  an  ordinance  of  the  church.  In  this  general  view  it  was  designed  as  a  setil 
of  the  righteousness  of  faith;  that  is,  of  that  gracious  covenant  which  has  substi- 
luted  the  righteousness  rvhich  comes  by  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  room 
of  the  pej/cct  and  personal  oiedience  required  by  the  first  covenant,  and  which  has 
now  become  impracticable  to  the  frailty  and  corruption  of  human  nature,  beloj 
rK)«3iblo  only  tliroiigli  a  Mediator,  and  Surety. 


'^ 


448 

seal  of  the  believing  parent  given,  both  in  hi8  own  name,  and 
in  that  of  his  child,  as  its  natural  proxy,  testifying  his  entire 
acquiescence  in  the  conditions  of  the  covenant ;  and,  by  the 
same  act,  laying  the  child  under  an  obligation  of  acquiescing 
in  them,  and  fulfilling  them,  as  soon  as  it  shall  attain  the  age 
of  reason.  And  undoubtedly,  the  act  of  the  parent,  in  of- 
fering his  child  to  receive  the  seal  of  baptism  is,  on  his  part, 
a  formal  acknowledgment  of  the  covenant  and  profession  of 
faith  in  its  gracious  promises.  It  has,  likewise,  been  admit- 
ted, and  has  been  before  asserted,  that  a  parent  possesses 
from  nature,  and  from  religion,  a  right  to  enter  into  any  right- 
eous covenant  in  the  name  of  his  child,  when  the  objects  of ' 
that  covenant  are  only  blessings,  and  privileges  ;  and  espe- 
cially when  its  conditions  or  terms  are  antecedent  duties. 

Baptism,  however,  in  the  just  and  scriptural  view  of  it,  is 
chiefly  to  be  considered  as  the  outward  and  visible  seal  which 
God  has  been  pleased  to  annex  to  his  own  promise  ;  a  prO' 
mise  which  he  has  graciously  given  to  the  church  under 
the  form  of  a  covenant  engagement ;  by  this  seal  ratifying, 
and  confirming  to  her,  and  to  all  who  are  taken  into  her  care, 
the  propositions  of  his  grace  and  mercy,  through  Jesus 
Christ.  Abraham  did  not  give  to  God  the  seal  of  circumci- 
sion as  a  pledge  of  his  duty  and  obedience ;  but  the  scrip- 
ture declares,  he  received  it  from  God  for  himself  and  his 
offspring,  in  order  to  confirm  that  gracious  covenant,  or  pro- 


449 

mise  which  he  had  made  to  the  father  of  the  faithful ;  I  wUl 
he  a  God  to  you,  and  to  your  seed  after  you.^ 

Do  you  ask  if  it  is  not  doing  dishonour  to  the  faithfulness  of 
Jehovah  to  suppose  that  his  promise  requires  to  be  confirmed 
by  symbols  and  sacraments,  by  oaths  and  seals  ?  Is  not  his 
word  alone  the  firm,  and  immutable  foundation  of  every  believ- 
er's trust  and  hope  ?  It  is  true  the  veracity  of  God  needs  no 
support  from  outward  forms ;  and  it  is  not  for  his  sake,  but  for 
ours,  that  he  is  sometimes  pleased  to  employ  them,  in  order  to 
give  the  deeper  impression  to  divine  truth  upon  the  heart. 
Frail  as  we  are,  and  receiving  all  our  impressions  through  the 
medium  of  the  senses,  ideas,  merely  intellectual,  are  neither 


♦  If  we  refer  to  the  whole  strain  of  the  history,  in  the  17th  chapter  of  Genesis 
which  records  the  transactions  of  God  with  Abraliam,  this  interpretation  will  be 
confirmed.  It  was  a  covenant  entirely  of  the  gratuitous  kind,  on  the  part  of  God, 
engaging  by  an  expression  of  the  most  comprehensive  meaning — [I  will  be  a  God  to 
you,  &c.]  to  bestow  the  most  ample  spiritual  blessings  on  his  chosen  servant,  and 
on  his  posterity.  In  every  covenant  of  tliis  nature  the  forrasiof  ratification  are 
used  by  him  only,  and  are  intended  to  oblige  only  him  who  bestows  the  favour. 
The  beneficiary  simply  receives  the  promise,  or  charter  which,  when  confirmed  by 
tiie  requisite  legal  forms,  and  ratified  by  the  seal  of  the  benefactor,  becomes  his 
title  of  inheritance,  or  possession,  on  the  pe;formance  of  whatever  condition  it 
contains. 

It  was  not  an  unusual  thing  for  Almighty  God  thus  to  confirm  his  promises  and 
covenants  to  patriarchs,  and  holy  men,  by  some  external  sign,  or  token.  His  pro- 
mise to  Noah  he  confirmed  by  his  bow  in  the  clouds.  To  Gideon  he  gave  a  sign, 
or  seal  of  his  commission  to  be  the  deliverer  of  Israel,  by  consuming  his  sacrifice 
upon  the  rock.  To  Abraham  he  gave  the  sign  of  circumcision.  And,  on  another 
occasion,  he  caused  a  burning  lamp  to  pass  between  the  parts  of  liis  sacrifice.  To 
Hezekiah  the  sign  of  the  shadow  returning  back  Ui.on  the  dial  was  added  to  the 
promise  of  his  recovery.  And  to  the  house  of  David,  and  of  Israel,  he  gave  by  ' 
Th^"  prophet  Issiab;  this  myflerious  sign,  a  virgin  shall  rnncrlv:  avd  hare  a  son, 

57 


450 

so  clearly  conceived,  nor  take  such  firm  possession  of  the  soul^ 
as  when  thej  are  embodied,  if  I  may  speak  so,  and  conveyed 
to  us  under  sensible  images.  It  is  not,  therefore,  unworthy 
of  the  glory  and  wisdom  of  God  ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  a 
proof  of  his  infinite  benignity  and  condescension,  to  confirm 
to  us  the  everlasting  truth  of  his  word,  by  such  impressive 
and  external  symbols  as  will  unite  the  influence  of  sense  with 
that  of  intellect  and  faith,  in  giving  the  doctrine  of  his  grace 
their  full  effect  upon  the  mind.  Hence  God  has  been  pleas- 
ed to  exhibit  the  promises  of  his  mercy  to  mankind  through 
Jesus  Christ,  under  the  gracious  title  of  a  covenant  ;  and,  af- 
ter the  manner  of  such  conventions  among  men  ;  and  in  or- 
der more  perfectly  to  adapt  himself  to  that  susceptibility  of 
sensible  impressions  which  belongs  to  our  nature,  he  has 
condescended  to  confirm  his  truth  in  that  transaction  by  pub- 
licly and  visibly  annexing  to  it  his  own  seal.  Let  me  illus- 
trate this  idea  by  an  analogy  borrowed  from  civil  transactions. 
As  charters  conveying  special  privileges  to  corporations,  or 
to  individuals  are  sealed,  and  authenticated  by  public  offi- 
cers duly  appointed  and  commissioned  for  that  purpose  by 
the  sovereign  power ;  in  like  manner,  is  this  precious  char- 
ter of  our  spiritual  and  immortal  privileges,  confirmed  to  us 
by  the  seal  of  the  Great  Head  of  the  church  affixed  to  it,  in 
the  name  of  God,  by  ministers  solemnly  set  apart  for  this 
end,  according  to  the  order  which  he  has  established  in  his 
spiritual  kingdom ;  so  that  whatever  is  rightfully  performed 
by  them  may  be  justly  said  to  be  done  by  himt     Baptism, 


451 

therefore,  is  the  seal  of  God  applied  Jo  his  own  covenant, 
thereby  confirming  to  those,  to  whom  it  is  administered,  the 
propositions  of  his  mercy  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  visibly 
testifying  that  they  are  taken  from  under  the  curse  of  the  ori- 
ginal and  broken  covenant,  which  admitted  only  of  perfect 
obedience,  and  condemned  the  transgressor  to  eternal  death, 
and  placed  under  the  new  dispensation  of  grace,  which  con- 
fers forgiveness  on  repentance,  and  salvation  on  the  obedi- 
ence of  faith. 

As  every  public  seal  contains  emblems  expressive  of  the 
nature,  and  security  of  the  blessings  it  confers,  we  see  in  like 
manner,  this  christian  seal  distlnguishedctio  emblems,  the 
most  simple,  indeed,  but  the  most  imprmaWe  and  august. 
We  see  in  it  the  symbol  of  that  precious  blood  which  was 
shed  for  our  redemption,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  whose 
gracious  influences  the  principles  of  a  divine  life  are  infused 
into  the  soul,  and  cherished  to  perfection  ;  and,  finally,  the 
S3'mbol  of  that  heavenly  purity  which  should  adorn  and  dis- 
tinguish the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Thus  have  I  presented  to  you  this  ordinance  in  its  double 
signification  :  as  the  rite  by  which  we  are  initiated  into  the 
school  of  Christ ;  and  as  the  seal  by  which  God  continually 
repeats  and  confirms  the  gracious  propositions  and  promises 
of  his  covenant  to  the  seed  of  the  church. 


452 

2.  I  shall,  in  the  next  place,  proceed  to  point  out  the  pro- 
per subjects  of  this  ordinance.  For  on  the  right  of  our 
children  to  receive  the  seal  of  the  covenant  depends,  in  my 
v'leWf  its  principal  benefits.  This  right,  then,  is  demonstrat- 
ed from  analogy  ; — ^from  scripture  example ; — and  from  the 
whole  stream  of  the  history  of  the  primitive  church. 

1.  From  analogy,  in  the  first  place.— If  the  father  of  the 
faithful  reeeived  from  God  the  seal  of  the  righleous  which 
is  by  faith  ;  that  is,  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  in  which  that 
faith  which  unites  us  to  Christ,  msiking  us  partakers  of  his 
merits,  and  acting  as  the  principle  of  a  holy  life,  is  accepted 

instead  of  the  p   ^  ;ct  righteousness  of  the  law  ;  and  if  he  was 

^ctly 
permitted,  as  -  ,*recious  privilege,  to  impress  it  on  all  his 

offspring ;  does  not  this  right  belong,  with  still  stronger  rea- 
son, to  believing  parents,  under  the  dispensation  of  the  gospel  ? 
For  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  far  from  having  abridged,  has 
greatly  extended  the  privileges  of  the  faithful. 

2.  Let  us  hear  in  the  next  place,  the  clear  and  strong  lan- 
guage of  the  apostle  Paul.  "  The  promise,"  saith  he,  "  was 
not  to  Abraham  or  his  seed  through  the  law,  but  through  the 
righteousness  of  faith.  And  it  is  of  faith  that  it  might  be  by 
grace ;"  that  is,  of  free  favour,  and  not  purchased  by  any 
meritorious  works  of  man,  "  to  the  end,  that  the  promise 
might  be  sure  to  all  the  seed,  not  to  that  only  which  is  of  the 
law,"  or  his  natural  posterity,  composing  the  Jewish  church, 


453 

«  but  to  that  also  which  is  of  the  faith  of  Abraham, — Rom.  iv 
13 — 16  :  meaning  the  believing  gentiles  who  should  be  called 
to  a  participation  of  his  privileges.     What,  then,  is  that  pro- 
mise  made  sure,  by  the  seal  of  the  covenant,  to  all  the  seed, 
both  under  the  law,  and  under  the  gospel  ?  If  we  look  back 
to  the  institution  of  this  covenant  with  Abraham,  and  of  the 
holy  seal  by  which  it  was  confirmed,  we  there  find  the  pro- 
mise ;  I  will  be  a  God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee.  This 
is  what  was  emphatically  called  the  promise  by  the  ancient 
Jewish  writers  ;  and  was,  as  I  have  formerly  shewn,  another 
denomination  for  the  covenant  of  grace.     Under  the  same 
denomination  it  is  frequently  referred  to  in  the  writings  of  the 
apostles.     And  whenever  this  holy  transaction  is  mentioned 
by  the  sacred  writers,  under  this  form,  it  is  manifest  that  they 
intend  the  peculiar  promise  of  the  gospel,  which  is  salvation 
by  Christ  through  the  righteousness  of  faith,  comprehending 
all  that  is  implied  in  the  covenant  of  grace.     Of  this  no  other 
proof  need  be  adduced  than  its  being  so  often  put  by  them  in 
contrast  with  the  law."^     To  receive  the  seal  of  this  promise 


*  See  particularly  tlie  Ep.  to  Gal.  cb.  iii.  v.  16,  17, 13,-21—29 — 18,  If  the 
inheritance  be  by  works  of  the  law,  it  is  no  more  of  promise.  21,  Is  the  law, 
then  against  theyroTTiue  of  God.  24 — 29,  The  la7v  is  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us 
to  Christ.  If  we  be  Chi-isVs,  then  are  we  Abratiain's  seed,  and  heirs  according  to 
the  promise.  16,  17,  Now  to  Abraham  and  his  seed  were  the  promises  mTide. 
And  this  I  say  that  the  covenant,  plainly  implying  the  covenant  contaiued  in  the 
promises,  wliich  was  confirmed  before  of  God  in  Christ,  tlie  law  which  was  four 
hundred  and  tiiirty  years  after,  cannot  disannul,  that  it  should  make  the  promise 
of  none  effect.  The  promise  here  is  evidently  equivalent  to  the  covenant  made 
with  Abraham:  and  what  could  that  covrnant  be  whioh  was  covfirmi'd  of  God  in 
Christ,  but  the  covenant  of  grace  ^ 


464 

was  the  precious  privilege  of  the  seed  of  Abraham ;  it  was 
the  privilege  of  his  children's  children  to  the  remotest  genera- 
tions. And  on  the  same  ground,  pursuing  the  apostle's  rea- 
soning, it  is  the  privilege  of  the  children  of  his  faith, /or  they 
mho  are  of  faith  are  the  children  of  Abraham.  If  ye  be 
Christ^s,  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according 
to  the  promise  ;  the  promise  given  to  Abraham  at  the  institu- 
tion of  the  covenant — Irvill  be  a  God  to  thee,  and  to  thy  seed 
after  thee.  To  confirm  this  conclusion,  no  language  can  be 
stronger  or  more  unequivocal  than  that  of  the  apostle  Peter 
addressed  to  the  vast  assembly  at  Jerusalem  touched  by  his 
powerful  discourse.  "  Repent,  and  be  baptized  every  one  of 
you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins, 
and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  the 
promise  is  to  you,  and  to  your  children,  and  to  all  who  are 
afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call."  As 
soon  as  he  enjoins  it  upon  them  to  be  baptized,  he  reminds 
them  of  an  ulterior  duty,  to  have  this  holy  rite  administered 
to  their  children,  and  their  household  after  the  example  of 
Abraham:  quoting  to  them  that  covenanted  promise  with 
which  every  Israelite  was  so  well  acquainted,  and  to  which 
every  believer,  as  well  as  the  patriarch  Abraham,  is  entitled ; 
—the  promise    of  forgiveness,   and   acceptance  with  God 


Jt  deserves  here  to  he  remarked,  t'liat  the  very  language  which  is  used,  ike  covC' 
Tiant  confirmed  of  God,  corroborates,  and  places  almost  beyond  doubt,  the  princi- 
ple, that  circumcision,  under  the  ancient  dispensation,  and  baptism  under  the 
new,  is  the  seal  of  God  by  which  it  was  confirmed,  and  was  added  to  strengthen 
rur  faitlj,  and  to  give  it  deeper  impresBion  on  the  heart  of  the  believer. 


455 

through  the  righteousness  of  faith.  He  adds,  and  not  to  you 
only  and  to  your  children,  who  are  naturally  descendants  of 
Abraham,  but  to  the  gentiles  also,  who  are  frequently  desig- 
nated in  holy  scripture  by  those  who  are  afar  off.  Called 
by  Christ  into  the  church,  which  was  so  long  confined  to  the 
posterity  of  Israel,  they  are  now  equally  with  Jews,  entitled 
to  all  its  blessings,  and  its  privileges,  and  among  others,  to 
this  precious  seal  of  the  covenant  for  themselves,  and  their 
offspring. 

It  is  in  vain  to  allege,  as  has  been  done  by  certain  writers, 
that  the  promise  here  refers  to  the  prediction  of  the  prophet 
Joel,  who  foretold,  that  in  the  last  days  God  moidd  -pour  out 
his  Spirit  upon  all  Jlesh.  For  what  connexion  has  this  prophe- 
cy with  the  command  to  be  baptised  ?  The  apostle  is  answer- 
ing the  anxious  inquiry  of  his  hearers,  who  were  pricked  in  their 
hearts ;  men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do  ?  And  in  his  an- 
swer, directs  them  to  the  proper  source  of  peace,  arid,  consola- 
tion ; — 7'epent  and  be  baptized,  and  you  shall  receive  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  his  sanctifying  power,  and  his  comforting  influence  : 
for  the  promise,  through  Christ  whom  I  preach,  is,  according 
to  the  tenor  of  the  covenant  with  your  father  Abraham,  to 
you  and  to  your  children  ;  and  not  to  you  only,  but  to  the 
gentiles  also,  to  those  who  are  afar  off,  who,  by  failh,  shall 
become  children  of  Abraham,  and  heirs  of  his  blessings. 

Such  is  the  clear  and  obvious  conclusion  resulting  from  the 
apostle's  words.     The  same  consequence  arises,    with   r*^ 


456 

less  certainty,  from  the  advice  addressed  by  St.  Paul  to 
a  believing  husband  or  wife,  not  to  separate  from  the  unbe- 
lieving wife  or  husband  with  whom  they  may  be  respective- 
ly connected.  For,  saith  he,  the  unbeliever  is  sanctified  by 
the  believer,  else  were  your  children  unclean,  but  now  are 
they  holy.  What  is  the  proper  import  of  this  term? 
Throughout  the  sacred  scriptures,  it  is  applied  only  to  such 
persons  or  things  as  are  peculiarly  set  apart,  and  consecrat- 
ed to  God.  In  the  connexion  in  which  it  stands  in  this  pas- 
sage, it  can  imply  nothing  less  than  that  children  are  qualifi- 
ed, by  the  profession  of  faith,  or  the  church  membership  of 
one  of  their  parents,  to  be  solemnly  set  apart  from  the  world, 
and  devoted  to  God — a  rite  which  can  visibly  take  place  only 
in  the  ordinance  of  baptism."^ 

If  the  right  of  infants  to  the  ordinance  of  baptism  evident- 
ly results,  as,  by  the  preceding  illustrations,  it  appears  to 
do,  from  the  analogy  of  the  christian  with  the  Abrahamic 
seal  of  the  covenant,  it  is  still  farther  confirmed  by  the  prac- 
tice of  the  apostles.     The  passage  to  which  reference  has 


*  It  is  a  prostitution  of  language,  in  this  place  to  confound,  as  has  been  done  by 
one  sect  of  christian?,  holiness  with  legitimacy  of  birth.  The  whole  train  of  the 
apostle's  observations,  and  reasoning,  translated  according  to  this  meaning  of  the 
term,  would  be  absurd  or  ridiculous. — For  the  unbelieving  n-ifc  is  sandijied,  that 
is,  made  a  legitimate  subject  of  marriage,  by  the  believing  husband,  and  the  un- 
believing husband  is  sandijied,  that  is,  made  a  legitimate  subject  of  marriage,  by 
the  believing  mfe,  therefore,  their  marriage  was  lawful  ;  else  were  your  children 
illegitimate,  but  now  are  they  lawfully  begotten.  Besides  other  absurdities,  this 
would  be  proving  the  lawfulness  of  the  marriage  by  the  legitimacy  of  the  children, 
and  again  the  legitimacy  of  the  children  by  the  lawfulness  of  the  marriage. 


457 

just  been  made,  affords  no  slight  attestation  to  the  practice  ot 
St.  Paul.  In  addition  to  this,  when  Lydia  declared  her  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  same  apostle,  along  with  her, 
baptized  her  household.  With  Jairus  also,  he  baptised  all 
who  were  in  his  house.  It  has  been  objected  to  the  evi« 
dence  which  we  would  derive  from  these  facts,  that  those 
who  are  referred  to,  by  the  sacred  historian,  in  the  house  of 
Jairus,  and  the  household  of  Lydia,  were  only  the  adults 
of  the  respective  families,  who  were  themselves  believers. 
What  will  not  the  prepossessions  of  party,  or  the  pride  of 
theory  maintain,  and  defend  ?  For  this  pretence  certainly, 
the  history  affords  no  ground.  It  assigns  no  other  reason  for 
baptizing  these  families  than  simply  the  faith  of  Lydia  and 
of  Jairus.* 

3.  I  add  that,  if  any  apostolic  usage  can  derive  confirma- 
tion from  the  uniform  practice,  and  tradition  of  the  church, 
to  modern,  and  very  recent  times,  it  is  that  of  infant  baptism. 
It  is  attested  by  Justin  Martyr,  who  lived  only  forty  years 


*  This  W3S  perfectly  conformable  to  the  example  of  the  Jewish  church  In  receiv- 
ing proselytes  either  by  circumcision,  or  by  baptism,  from  the  Gentile  nations. 
The  pagan  convert  who  professed  his  faith  in  the  great  legislator  of  Israel,  and 
the  promises  made  to  the  fathers,  at  once  incorporated  his  whole  family  along  with 
himself,  into  the  body  of  that  chosen  people. 

It  is  said,  indeed,  by  the  writers  who  differ  from  us  upon  this  subject,  that,  in 
the  history  of  the  New  Te.4ament,  baptism  is  never  administered  except  to  a  per- 
sonal profession  of  faith.  But,  let  it  be  remembered  that  this  liistory  records  on- 
ly examples  of  proselytes  from  unbelieving  nations.  In  a  similar  case,  a  personal 
profession  of  faith  would  be  required  by  the  warmest  friends  of  infaut  baptism 
In  the  few  instances  in  which  families  have  been  ment'onfr),  wo  pon  ^h^*^  t'l'"-  nl 
•.7avs  follow  the  faith  of  (he  bead. 

5?. 


458 

after  the  age  of  the  apostles.  And  the  evidences  of  the 
fact  are  conveyed  down  in  a  continued,  and  unsuspected 
stream  of  history,  to  the  time  of  St.  Augustine,  and  Pela- 
gius,  who,  though  antagonists  in  the  controversies  which 
were  raised  in  that  age,  on  some  of  the  most  important  doc- 
trines of  religion,  and  both  of  them  among  the  greatest  scho- 
lars, and  most  eloquent  writers  of  the  period  in  which  ihey 
lived,  declare,  "  that  thej  had  never  heard,  that  thej  had 
never  read  of  any,  even  the  most  heretical  churches,  who 
denied  the  baptism  of  infants."* 


*  But  few  of  the  writers  of  the  earliest  age  of  the  church  have  escaped  the  rava- 
ges of  time,  and  come  down  to  us  entire.  And  no  controversy  existing  at  that  pe- 
riod, on  the  subject  of  baptism,  few  occasions  occur  of  directly  introducing  any 
precise  opinions  concerning  it,  or  of  explicitly  stating  the  practice  of  the  apostles, 
and  their  immediate  successors.  But  wherever  this  ordinance  is  mentioned,  ei- 
ther more  or  less  directly,  the  testimony  of  the  primitive  writers  is  uniformly  in 
favour  of  tlie  baptism  of  infants.  In  the  second,  and  especially  in  the  third  and 
following  centuries,  circumstances  having  more  frequently  called  for  explicit  opin- 
ions on  questions  relative  to  tliis  subject,  the  practice  of  the  primitive  church  be- 
comes, from  this  time  more  and  more  evident.  Justin  Martyr,  and  Irenaeus,  who 
lived  from  forty  to  sixty  seven  years  after  the  apostles,  both  speak  of  those  "  who 
were  made  rfisctpies,  znd  regenerated  to  God  in  infancy,"  a  figurative  mode  of  ex- 
pression familiar  in  tliat  age,  to  signify  baph'sm  the  symbol  of  discipleship,  and 
regeneration.    Just.  Mar.  apol.  II.  Iren.  adv.  haeres.  lib.  3.  chap.  39. 

In  the  second  century  some  doubts  having  arisen  in  the  church  concerning  ori- 
ginal sin,  and  the  nature  and  degree  of  guilt  which  adheres  to  infants,  we  find  in 
the  disciissior.-' which  arose  on  these  subjects,  more  frequent  mention  made  of  the 
baptism  of  inf'ints  than  in  the  former  period  The  illustrious  Origen,  who  flour- 
ished in  the  very  beginning  of  the  second  century  after  the  apostles,  raaintaiuing 
the  original  corruption  of  human  nature,  derives  one  of  his  principal  arguments 
from  the  universal  practice  of  the  church,  of  administering  baptism  to  the  young- 
est children;  — "  If  infants,  says  he,  are  not  liable  to  original  sin,  why  are  they 
then  baptized  ?  Horail.  8.  in  lev.  chap.  12. 

St.  Cyprian  bi?bop  of  Carthage,  who  wrote  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
after  the  apostolic  age,  establishes  the  general  usage  of  infant  baptism  by  a  most 
copvincinii  fact.  He  informs  h«  that  a  council  of  sixty  six  bishops  being  assembled 
at  Carthage,  a  doubt  was  pi  oposed  by  one  of  them,  whose  name  was  Fidus,  whe- 


459 

Having  established  the  right  of  christian  parents  to  have 
their  offspring  placed  under  the  guardianship  and  care  of  the 
church,  in  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  let  us  examine,  in  the 
next  place,  what  privileges  and  blessings  are  conferred  by 
this  act. 

Whether  we  consider  baptism  as  the  rite  by  which  our 
children  are  initiated  into  the  church  as  the  school  of  Christ, 
or  as  the  seal  which  God  has  been  pleased  to  annex  to  his 
covenant,  in  order  to  ratify,  and  more  effectually,  to  con- 
firm to  our  faith  the  promises  of  his  grace,  its  privileges  and 
blessings,  rightly  understood,  are  manifold  and  great.  For 
to  Abraham  and  his  seed,  to  the  church,  and  the  seed  of  the 
church,  are  committed  the  oracles  of  God,  with  all  their 
lights,  their  comforts,  their  precious  promises,  their  immor- 
tal hopes.     In  order  to  give,  at  once,  force  and  illustration  to 


ther  baptism  ought  to  be  administered  to  infants  before  the  eightli  day  after  their 
birth  ;  doubting  whether  or  not  the  custom  of  the  Jew?  in  this  respect  ought  to  be 
followed.  The  council  unanimously  decreed  that  baptism  ought  not  to  be  post- 
poned till  the  eighth  day.  After  stating  the  grounds  of  their  decree,  they  con- 
clude ia  these  words ; — "  Wherefore,  dearly  beloved,  it  is  our  opinion,  that, 
from  baptism  and  the  grace  of  God  who  is  benignant  to  all,  none  ought  to  be  pro- 
hibited by  us  ;  and,  as  this  i.s  to  be  observed  with  regard  to  all,  so  especially  is  it 
to  be  observed  with  respect  to  inf.mts  who  are  just  born,  and  deserve  our  help, 
and  the  divine  mercy." — Cyp.  ep.  ad.  Fidura,  chap.  63. 

Let  me  subjoin  tlie  very  pertinent  remark  of  a  judicious  writer ;  "  Origen  was 
born  about  eighty  five  years  after  the  apostolic  age.  His  father  and  grandfather 
were  both  christians,  and  as  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  his  being  baptized  in  infan- 
cy, from  the  manner  in  which  he  speaks  of  infant  baptism,  this  fact  verifies  the 
practice  of  the  apostles ;  and  so  carries  up  the  universal  usage  of  the  church  to 
within  a  very  few  years  of  those  blessed  companious  of  our  Lord," 


460 

(his  reflection,  let  us  imagine  our  children  born  where  the  dis- 
pensation of  grace  is  not  known,  and  to  have  been  left  un- 
der the  darkness  of  paganism,  to  the  feeble  glimmerings  of 
nature,  to  lead  them  to  a  knowledge  of  their  Creator,  their 
Redeemer,  and  their  duly  ;  imagine  them,  under  all  the  ca- 
lamities of  life,  to  have  been  forsaken  of  the  comforts  of  re- 
ligious hope ;  and,  after  their  most  anxious  endeavours  to 
look  into  futurity,  and  to  appease  the  forebodings  of  con- 
science, unable  to  penetrate  beyond  this  dark  sphere,  or  to 
discern  any  certain  means  of  access  to  the  holy  and  right- 
eous Judge  of  the  universe,  and,  at  length,  abandoned  to 
the  cruel  despair  which,  without  the  light  of  revelation,  rests 
upon  the  shadows  of  the  grave ;  imagine  all  this,  and  then 
judge  of  the  inestimable  value  of  that  blessed  sacrament 
which,  agreeably  to  the  command  of  Christ,  places  us,  from 
the  beginning  of  life,  in  the  bosom  of  the  church,  where  a 
divine  illumination  continually  shines ;  where  life  and  immor- 
tality are  brought  to  light ;  where  the  veil  which  covers  the 
eternal  world  is  drawn  aside ;  where  the  way  of  peace  is 
clearly  revealed  to  sinful  and  perishing  men  ;  where  the  care 
of  parents,  and  the  fidelity  of  the  ministers  of  religion  are 
engaged,  under  the  most  solemn  obligations,  for  the  discipline, 
and  instruction  of  the  infant  mind ;  where  the  influences  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  are  promised  to  assist  the  eflect  of  these  in- 
structions ;  and  where  all  the  means  and  aids  are  enjoyed 
which  it  has  seemed  good  to  infinite  wisdom  to  afford  to  maa-= 
^indj  for  the  attainment  of  their  everlasting  salvation. 


461 

Such  are  the  blesshigs  connected  with  baptism,  consider- 
ed merely  as  an  initiating  symbol  introducing  us,  into  the 
church  of  Christ.  We  are  placed  by  it  under  the  happiest, 
and  most  effectual  cultivation  for  Heaven. 

Let  us  now  contemplate  this  symbol  in  another  light,  as 
the  seal  which  God  has  annexed  to  his  covenant  for  the  so« 
lemn  confirmation  of  his  promises,  and  we  shall  discover  in 
this  view  of  it,  a  new  treasure  of  spiritual  blessings. 

Every  child  of  Adam,  by  his  error,  and  fall,  and  by  the 
rigorous  tenor  of  the  violated  covenant,  has  become  an  heir 
of  death.  But  God,  in  his  infinite  mercy,  at  the  moment  of 
transgression,  placed  the  frailty  of  man  under  a  dispensation 
of  grace  in  Jesus  Christ.  Of  this  most  benignant  and  mer- 
ciful dispensation,  which  obviates,  or  remedies,  the  evils  of 
the  broken  law,  circumcision  anciently,  and  now  baptism,  is 
the  gracious  assurance  and  seal.  In  the  symbol  of  baptismj 
therefore,  you  behold  the  visible  pledge,  and  annunciation, 
on  the  part  of  God,  that  the  baptized  infant  is  taken  from  un- 
der the  impracticable  conditions,  and  the  curse  of  the  first 
covenant,  and  placed  under  the  grace  of  the  second.*  You 
behold  that  precious  infant,  on   its  first  entrance  into  exist- 


*  It  is  not  intended  by  this  to  say,  that  the  act  of  baptism  transfers  us  from  the 
one  covenant  to  the  other.  Tiiat  was  done  by  the  promise  of  the  Saviour  imme- 
diately after  the  Fall.  But  it  is  the  solemn  authentication  of  this  truth  on  the 
part  of  God,  aud  tiie  d^^tlaratory  seal  of  this  grace. 


462 

ence,  met  with  the  covenant  of  peace,  and  the  promises  of 
eternal  life  sealed  in  the  blood  of  the  Redeemer. 

Is  baptism,  then,  a  certain  tide  to  eternal  life  ?     I  say  not 
that ;  but  it  is  a  solemn  and  authentic  proposition  of  the 
covenant  of  grace,  with  all  its  privileges,  blessings,  and  con- 
ditions under  the  seal  of  God.     It  is,  therefore,  a  visible  and 
sacramental  confirmation  of  the  provisional  title  of  the  bap- 
tized to  life  and  immortality  on  the   terms  of  the  gospel ; 
that  is,  on  sincere  repentance,  and  a  true  faith  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.     Let  me  illustrate  this  principle  by  a  familiar 
example.^  By  charter  from  the  government  of  your  country, 
or  bequest  from  a  dying  parent,  you  may  become  entitled  to 
ample  privileges,  or  rich  possessions,  on  the  performance  of 
certain  conditions.     The  seal  annexed  to  that  charter,  or 
that  testament,  by  the  proper  authority,  is  the  declaration  of 
the  will  of  your  parent,  or  your  country,  and  consequently, 
the  formal  authentication,  and  security  of  your  title  the  mo- 
ment the  condition  shall  be  fulfilled.     This  condition  is,  to 
all  who  have  grown  to  such  mature  age  as  to  be  capable  of 
actual  sin,  not  perfect  obedience,  according  to  the  tenor  of 
the  first,  and  broken  covenant,  but  according  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  covenant  of  grace,  repentance  towards  God,  and 
faith  towards  our  Lord  Jesus  Chiist,  which,  however,  leads 
to  perfection,  and  plants  in  the  heart  the  seeds  of  holiness, 
and  of  eternal  life.     But  to  every  infant  dying  in  infancy,  it 
is  an  unconditional  assurance,  of  a  glorious  inheritance  in  the 


463 

kingdom  of  heaven.  The  infant  being  placed  under  the 
grace  of  the  second  covenant,  is  delivered  from  the  curse  of 
the  first,  so  far,  that,  being  united  by  a  new  and  blessed  rela- 
tion to  the  Second  Adam,  its  original  taint  and  impurity,  de- 
rived from  its  relation  to  the  first,  is  covered  by  the  blood  of 
the  atonement.  It  is,  therefore,  through  tJie  mercy  of  God 
in  Christ,  made  an  heir  of  eternal  life.  Of  these  precious 
truths  baptism  is  the  sacramental  pledge,  and  seal  of  assurance 
given  by  God.  What  a  consolation  does  this  view  present 
to  the  christian  parent,  who  weeps  over  the  dear  remains  of 
the  infant  snatched  untimely  from  his  embrace !  What  a 
comfortable  and  extended  prospect  does  it  exhibit  of  the 
grace  of  the  gospel.* 

Having  offered  to  your  consideration,  in  a  few  plain  and 
obvious  principles,  the  right  of  infants  born  within  the  church, 
to  the  seal  of  the  covenant,  and  pointed  out  the  blessings  of 
which  they  become  partakers  by  it;  I  will  next  endeavour 
to  designate,  more  particularly,  the  limits  of  the  visible 
church,  and  exhibit  the  nature  and  extent  of  that  profession 
of  the  name  of  Christ  which  entitles  a  parent  to  offer,  and  the 


*  Very  far  would  I  be  from  insinuating  that  those  who  die  witiiout  bap- 
tism do,  therefore,  fail  of  salvation.  But  between  the  baptized  and  uobaptized 
infant  dying  in  infancy,  there  is  this  difference— that,  to  the  one,  the  inherit- 
ance of  eternal  life  is  conve)  ed  by  covenant  from  Qod,  under  his  appointed 
seal;  the  other  is  left  to  his  free,  indeed,  but  unauthenticated  pledge  of  his 
mercy  in  this  ordinance. 


464 

church  to  receive  his  infant  offspring  to  a  participation  of  this 
holy  ordinance. 

The  principal  question  which  has  been  raised  upon  this 
subject,  turns  on  this  single  point,  whether  the  church  on 
earth,  consists  only  of  those  who  are  truly  regenerated,  and 
have  added  sincere  and  new  obedience  to  their  open  profes- 
sion of  the  name  of  their  Redeemer  ;  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
embraces  all  those  who  have  been  baptized,  and  continuing 
to  profess  the  doctrines  of  the  Saviour,  submit  themselves  to 
the  counsels,  admonitions,  reproofs,  and  to  the  whole  disqj- 
pline  of  that  spiritual  body  whose  head  is  Christ. 

The  constitution  of  the  Jewish  church  the  type  and  coun- 
terpart of  the  Christian,  will  assist  us  to  determine  this  ques- 
tion. All  who  believed  in  Moses,  the  great  prophet  of  God, 
and  submitted  to  his  law,  were  embraced  in  the  external 
bonds,  and  received  the  distinguishing  seal  of  the  covenant* 
But,  they  mere  not  all  Israel,  who  were  of  Israel.  A  dis- 
tinction existed  among  them,  which  must  always  exist  upon 
earth,  among  the  professing  disciples  of  Christ,  between  the 
visible,  and  the  invisible  church.  The  latter  is  composed  of 
those  only,  who,  by  sincere  piety,  and  an  entire  renovation 
of  heart,  bear  the  inward  image  of  their  Lord  and  Master. 
The  former  embraces  all  who  are  united  together  under  the 
profession  of  the  same  system  of  doctrines,  who  enjoy  the 
same  ordinances,  and  who  submit  to  the  same  discipline  for 


465 

regulating  the  exterior  order  and  Didfniiers  of  its  members. 
To  the  church  of  Israel,  comprehending  the  entire  nation, 
were  the  oracles  of  God  committed.  And  the  seal  of  that 
gracious  covenant,  which  was  contained,  and  explained  la 
these  oracles,  and  exhibited  to  the  ancient  church  under  a 
thousand  topical  rites,  was  impressed  on  ail  their  offspring, 
and  ou  all  who  were  born  in  their  houses,  and  trained  up  in 
the  knowledge  of  divine  truth  under  (heir  care.  Analogy, 
then,  will  lead  us  to  extend  the  application  of  the  christian 
seal  to  the  households,  and  especially,  to  the  children  of  all 
who  are  members  of  the  visible  church ;  that  is,  who  have 
been  baptized  themselves,  who  acknowledge  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  their  Lord  and  Saviour,  who  profess  to  embrace 
the  holy  scriptures  as  containing  the  only  certain  rule  of  du- 
ty, and  the  only  foundation  of  their  immortal  hopes,  who 
submit  themselves  and  their  households  to  the  discipline  and 
instruction  of  the  church,  and  who  promise  to  concur  with 
her  in  the  pious  education  and  government  of  all  those  whom 
nature  hath  given  to  their  affection,  or  providence  subjected 
to  their  authority. 

To  the  invisible  church  baptism  cannot  be  confined,  be- 
cause  men  have  no  certain  rule  by  which  to  discriminate  it 
from  the  mass  of  visible  professors.  Let  ine  ask  those  who 
suppose  that  somewhat  more  is  necessary  in  the  recipient  to 
the  validity  of  iliis  ordinance  than  regular  morals,  an  open 

profession  of  the  faith,  and  submission  to  the  discipline  of  the 

.'>9 


466 

church.  Is  it  because  they  esteem  the  actual  sauctificatioR 
of  the  parent  essential  to  the  rightful  administration  of  bap- 
tism to  the  child  ?  Who,  then,  can  know,  with  certainty, 
that  he  is  baptized  ?  Do  they  say  that  it  is,  at  least,  neces- 
sary, that  in  the  judgment  of  charity,  a  parent  should  be  a 
sincere  believer  ?  Where  is  the  scripture  rule  which  rests 
the  benefit  of  baptism  on  our  judgment  of  the  internal  state  of 
a  man's  heart?  or  makes  it  the  standard  by  which  we  are  to 
admit  his  infant  to  the  external  privileges  of  the  covenant  of 
grace  ?  Will  not  those  jadgments  of  charity  vary  in  different 
churches  ?  Will  they  not  vary,  perhaps,  in  different  pastors 
in  the  same  Church  ?  Too  earnestly  he  cannot  be  admon- 
ished,  indeed,  that  vital  and  universal  holiness  of  heart  and 
life  is  essential  to  salvation,  and  essential,  likewise,  to  the 
faithful  and  acceptable  discharge  of  this,  and  of  every  duty 
in  the  sight  of  God ;  yet  it  cannot  be  essential  to  the  validi- 
ty of  this  ordinance,  and  its  spiritual  benefit  to  bis  infant 
offspring. 

Let  us  recur  again  to  the  proper  meaning  and  design  of 
this  ordinance,  and  this  conclusion  will  not  fail  to  strike  us 
with  additional  force.  It  is,  in  the  first  place,  the  rite  of  our 
initiation  into  the  school  of  Christ,  in  which  we  receive  those 
lessons  of  divine  wisdom,  which  cannot  be  taught  to  man  by 
the  wisdom  of  the  world ;  and  in  which  we  enjoy  the  happi- 
est means  of  promoting  our  virtue  and  holiness,  and  the  most 
effectual  aids  for  the  attainment  of  our  salvation. 


467 

It  is,  in  Ihe  next  place,  the  seal  which  God  hath  annexed 
to  the  external  dispensation  of  his  covenant,  in  order  that  he 
might,  by  a  rite,  so  solemn,  though  so  simple,  confu'm  the 
propositions  of  his  mercy  to  fallen  man,  through  the  atone- 
ment and  mediation  of  the  ever  blessed  Redeemer.     The 
chnrch  openly  annexes  this  seal  to  the  covenant,  in  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  God  himself.     The  church  takes  the 
infant  under  her  protection  and  instruction.     Most  desirable 
it  is  to  have  the  co-operation  and  assistance  of  the  parents 
in  this  sacred  and  important  duty ;  and  they  are  bound,  by 
every  obligalion,  of  nature  and  religion  to  afford  it.     But  it 
is  still  more  the  duty  of  the  church  to  enlighten  and  direct 
the  infant's  opening  reason,  to  imbue  it  with  holy  and  heav- 
enly principles,  to  illustrate,  to  inculcate,  to  press  upon  it  the 
precious  privileges,  the  gracious  promises,  the  glorious  hopes 
of  which  she  has  given  it  the  seal.     The  church  when  she 
is  faithful  to  her  trust,   adopts  every  infant,  whom   she  re- 
ceives by  baptism,  within  the  pale  of  her  privileges.     It  is 
her  faith,  her  fidelity  which  is  to  be  regarded  in  this  ordi- 
nance even  more  than  that  of  the  parent. 

It  is  with  (he  view  chiefly  to  the  pious  education  of  the 
seed  of  (he  church  that  this  ordinance  is  administered  to  in- 
fants. /  know  him,  saith  God  of  the  fa(her  of  (he  faithful, 
at  the  institudon  of  this  ri(e,  that  he  will  train  up  h'.s  chil- 
dren, and  his  household  after  him,  to  keep  the  way  of  the 
Lord.     Jn  the  primitive  ages,  when  many  parents  were  in- 


4t>8 

capable  themselves  of  fulPilliiig  these  holy  duties,  benevolent 
and  pious  sponsors  offered  tbemsehes  to  discharge  them  in 
their  room.  But  (he  chinch  was  considv»-red  as  sponsor  for 
all  her  children,  and  she  is,  certainly,  the  best,  and  most 
faithful  sponsor,  when  she  considers  her  duty  aright,  for  eve- 
ry infant  whom  she  receives  to  her  protection  and  care  by 
this  ordinance.  On  this  ground  it  was  that  she  required  ex- 
posed children,  and  children  of  whatever  parents,  with  the 
care  of  whose  pious  education  she  charged  herself,  to  re= 
ceive,  under  her  direction,  the  holy  rite  of  baptism. 

0!f  THE  FORM  OF  BAPTISM. 

If  the  mode  of  administering  this  ordinance  had  been  es? 
sential  to  its  validity  we  should  justly  have  expected  to  see 
it  prescribed  with  as  much  particularity  as  any  of  the  Leviti- 
cal  ceremonies.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  definite 
prescription  on  this  subject,  farther  than" that  water  is  to  be 
applied  as  a  symbol  of  that  regeneration  and  purification  of 
our  nature  which  all  men  need,  and  which  a  sincere  faith  in 
the  gospel  is  intended,  and  fitted  to  produce.  Any  applica- 
tion, therefore,  of  this  cleansing  element,  which  is  a  natural 
emblem  of  spiritual  purity,  especially,  if  it  be  justified  by  the 
usage  of  the  church,  and  the  import  of  the  terms  employed 
by  the  sacred  writers,  is  its  proper  and  legitimate  form.  In 
warm  climates  where  daily  bathing  is  the  customary  mode  of 
pleansing  the  person,  immersion  may  be  used  with  the  high- 


469 

est  propriely :  in  other  regions,  where  it  is  seUIorn  necessary 
for  this  purpose,  to  wash  dailj  more  than  a  part  of  (he  body, 
a  partial  application  of  water  may  be  made  with  equal  rea- 
son. An  action  of  our  Saviour  recorded  in  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  the  gospel  of  John,  is  full  of  inistruction  on  this 
subject.  It  was  usual  with  the  Jews,  before  eating,  to  wash 
their  feet,  a  practice  which  had  become  necessary,  both 
from  the  fashion  of  their  dress,  and  their  manner  of  reclin- 
ing upon  couches  at  their  meals.  Christ,  in  order  to  give 
his  disciples  a  lesson,  at  once,  of  humility,  and  purity,  con- 
descended himself  to  wash  their  feet.  When  Peter  under- 
gtood  the  meaning  of  this  action,  and  that  it  was  intended 
as  a  symbol  of  his  purification,  and  acceptance  with  his 
Lord,  he  exclaimed  in  the  fervor  of  his  zeal,  Lord  !  not 
my  feet  onlyy  but  also  my  hands^  and  my  head.  But,  as 
the  action  of  the  Saviour  was  merely  symbolical,  cleansing 
that  part  of  the  body  which  it  was  customary  to  wash  at  that 
time,  was  sufficient  to  answer  the  design ;  therefore,  he  re- 
plies to  Peter,  he  that  is  washed,  needeth  not  save  to  wash 
his  feet,  btit  is  every  whit  clean. 

Having  made  these  preliminary  remarks,  I  observe  that 
the  term  baptism,  in  the  sacred  writings,  is  applied  indiffer- 
ently, to  signify  either  partial,  or  entire  washing— either 
sprinkling,  or  immersion,  according  to  the  situation  of  the 
agent,  or  the  object  of  the  action.  It  is  unnecessary  to  cite 
all  the  passages  in  which  this  is  demonstrated.     To  "'^*^  ^^ 


470 

two  only  1  suall  refer.     When  Jesus  went  to  eat  with  a  cer- 
tain pharisee,  the  pharisee  wondered  that  he  had  not  first 
wasJied ;  referring  to  the  Jewish  custom  of  washing  their 
hands  before  meat.     In  the  original  it  is,  he  wondered  that 
he  had  not  first  baptised.     Many  other  things  there  he, 
saith  the  evangelist  Mark,  which  they  have  received  to  hold, 
as  the  washing  (in  the  original,  the  baptism)   of  cups,  of 
pots,  of  brazen  vessels,  and  of  tables.     As  the  sacred  wri- 
ter is  probably  referring  to  the  instruments  of  the  temple  ser- 
vice, or  to  those  domestic  utensils  which  were  religiously 
purified,  according  to  (he  same  forms,  the  whole  LeviticaJ 
ritual  proves  that  these  purifications  were  eflfected  by  va- 
rious sprinklings,  or  aspersions.     As  the  term  baptism,  and 
all  those  derived  from  the  same  root  are  employed  to  signify 
sprinkling,  and  partial  washing,  no  less  than  immersion,  so  it 
is  well  known  that  the  primitive  church  used  indifferently, 
and  according  to  present  convenience,  the  one,  or  the  other 
of  there  forms,  in  administering  the  baptismal  rite  ;  particu- 
larly in  the  case  of  clinici,  or  the  sick,  and  those  of  great 
delicacy  of  constitution,  or  of  health.     And  in  forming  our 
judgment  of  the  validity  of  the  mode  by  aspersion,  it  de- 
serves to  be  particularly  remarked,  that  sprinkling  is,  through- 
out the  sacred  writings,  used  as  one  of  the  most  common 
and  significant  emblems  of  purity,  of  cleansing,  of  repent- 
ance, of  every  thing  that  is  implied  in  the  waters  of  baptism. 
Not  to  speak  of  the  innumerable  aspersions  used,  for  thia 


ATI 

purpose,unJer  (he  Levitical  law,  the  blood  of  the  atonement 
is  expressly  called  the  blood  of  sprinkling.  Isaiah,  in  an- 
nouncing the  office,  and  grace  of  Messiah,  declares  he  shall 
sprinkle  many  nations.  The  prophet  Ezekiel,  in  proclaim- 
ing the  sanctifying  influence  of  the  gospel,  does  it  bj  this 
figure ;  Then  mill  I  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and 
you  shall  be  clean.  And  when  the  apostle  would  express, 
in  the  strongest  terms,  that  purity  of  mind  which,  in  our 
approaches  to  God,  we  ought  to  bring  with  us  to  the  throne 
of  grace,  he  says ;  Let  us  come  to  him,  having  our  hearts 
sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience. — But  I  forbear  to  muKi- 
ply  proofs.  These  are  sufficient  to  demonstrate  that  either 
mode,  by  immersion,  or  by  sprinkling,  will  answer  the  whole 
intention  of  the  ordinance,  as  an  emblem  of  that  purity  of 
life  which  becomes  a  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  principal  evidence  on  which  the  advocates  for  immerr 
sion,  as  essential  to  the  rightful  administration  of  this  ordi- 
nance, rest  their  opinion,  is  an  expression  used  by  the  apos- 
tle in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  in  that  to  the  Collos- 
sians ;  buried  with  him.  by  baptism.  Whether  this  allu- 
sion be  made  to  the  practice  of  immersion,  borrowed  from 
the  custom  of  bathing  in  warm  climates,  or  not,  it  establish- 
es no  exclusive  form  for  this  ordinance.  It  is  an  expression 
highly  figurative  ;  and  no  argument  can  be  safely  rested  or: 
a  figure  of  speech.     It  affiirds,  at  thf*  rtmopf,  only  a  collaf- 


47-1 

eial,  and  induect  support  to  oilier  arguments,  by  its  suppos> 
ed  reference  to  an  existing  custom.  But,  admitting  that  rC" 
Terence  to  be  real,  in  the  present  case  ;  and  the  inference  es- 
tablishing the  existence  of  the  custom  to  be  ever  so  justly 
drawn,  still  it  could  not  impose  immersion  on  the  church  as 
the  "indispensable,  and  exclusive  form  of  baptism.  For,  if 
the  custom  were  to  create  a  rule  which  could  not  be  depart- 
ed from,  that  custom  sliould  be  entirely  and  completely  ad- 
hered to.  But  I  presume  baptism  with  the  person  naked, 
which  was  the  practice,  where  plunging  was  used  in  those 
warm  climates,  in  imitation  of  bathing,  would  not  now  be  de- 
sired, or  tolerated  by  any  christian  sect.  The  habits, 
modes,  and  customary  ideas  of  that  age,  took  away  that  sense 
of  impropriety  which  would  justly  shock  the  delicacy  of  oui* 
modern  sentiments.  Even  on  the  ground,  then,  of  this  figure 
containing  a  reference  to  an  existing  custom,  that  custom 
would  not  infallibly  bind  men  in  every  age,  and  in  every 
climate  or  state  of  society. 

But,  let  us  carry  on  this  argument  from  figure  into  the 
following  verses,  and  see  how  it  will  operate  ;  For,  saith  the 
apostle,  "  if  we  have  been  planted  in  the  likeness  of  his  death, 
we  shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of  his  resurrection  ;  knowing 
this  that  our  old  man  is  crucified  with  him."  Here  then  are 
three  figurative  expressions,  all  referring  to  the  same  object, 
the  ordinance  of  baptism,  and  its  symbolic  signification  of  a 
death  unto  sin ;  viz.  "  buried  with  him  by  baptism  unto  death  j 


473 

planted  in  the  likeness  of  his  death;  and  crucifying  with  him 
our  old  man."  According  to  this  reasoning,  therefore,  bap- 
tism should  contain  something  in  the  mode  of  its  administra- 
tion corresponding  to  all  these  figures :  so  that,  if  the  first 
figure  necessarily  implies  the  justification  of  the  mode  of 
baptising  exclusively  by  immersion;  the  last  will,  on  the 
same  ground,  justify,  and  require  the  form  of  the  church  of 
Rome  in  baptising  with  the  sign  of  the  cross.  But  as  the 
friends  of  immersion  do  not  admit  of  the  latter  consequence, 
those  who  conform  to  the  practice  of  baptising  by  sprink- 
ling, with  equal  reason,  do  not  think  themselves  bound  by 
the  former. 

Upon  the  whole  view  of  this  subject,  I  conclude,  and,  I 
think,  from  the  fairest  reasoning,  that  the  mode  of  adminis- 
tering  baptism,  whether  by  sprinkling,  or  immersion,  is  not 
essential  to  the  validity  of  the  ordinance,  which  requires  only 
that  the  emblem  of  its  cleansing  and  purifying  virtue  be  sig- 
nificantly preserved. 


eo 


OF    THE 


EXTERNAL  SEALS 


COVENANT  OF  GRACE, 


II.    OF  THE   LORD  S  SUPPER. 


OF  THK 

EXTERNAL  SEALS 

OF  THE 

COVENANT  OF  GRACE 

OF  THE  LORD*S  SUPPER. 


J.  HE  second  seal  attached  to  the  covenant  of  grace,  or  the 
second  sacrament  of  the  new  testament,  is  the  Lord's  sup- 
per. This  ordinance  was  instituted  by  our  LordJesusCbrist, 
immediately  before  his  final  sufferings,  in  which  he  appoint- 
ed bread  and  wine  to  be  used  as  memorials  of  his  death  for  the 
sins  of  the  world,  and  symbols  of  the  union  of  his  people  to 
him,  and  to  one  another.  The  apostle  Paul,  in  his  first 
epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  ch.  ii.  v.  23 — 26  :  has  stated 
the  origin  of  this  festival,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was 
celebrated  by  our  Lord  himself,  with  his  disciples,  as  an  ex- 
ample for  the  imitation  of  his  church  in  all  ages.  Corres- 
ponding  with  this  exhibition,  is  the  account  recorded  by  the 
evangelists  Matthew  and  Luke.  And,  from  the  whole,  it  is 
evident,  that  the  broken  bread  was  employed  as  an  emblem 
of  the  body  of  the  Saviour  broken  in  the  room  of  sinners, 
and  the  wine  in  like  manner,  was  used  as  an  emblem  of  bis 


4r8 

blood  shed  for  the  remission  of  sins.  These  simple,  but 
lively  images  were  ordained  to  call  up  to  the  memory  of  the 
believer,  the  death  and  sufferings  of  his  Redeemer,  with 
greater  vivacity  and  force  than  can  be  done  by  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel  in  our  ordinary  assemblies. — Do  this,  said 
our  Lord,  while  he  broke  the  bread,  and  distributed  the  cup, 
in  remembrance  of  me.  But  the  ordinance,  as  I  have  said, 
has  another  and  secondary  object,  which  is  to  represent  the 
union  of  believers  with  their  great  Head  by  faith  and  love 
and  among  themselves,  by  the  spirit  of  charity.  "  The  cup 
of  blessing  which  we  bless,"  saith  the  apostle,  "is  it  not 
the  communion  of  the  blood  of  Christ?  and  the  bread 
which  we  break,  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  body  of 
Christ  ?  For,  we,  being  many,  are  one  bread,  and  one  bo- 
4y ;  for  we  are  all  partakers  of  that  one  bread." 

The  different  ends  which  a  christian  may  have  in  view  in 
this  ordinance,  have  been  marked  in  the  various  denomina- 
tions which  it  has  received  in  the  primitive  church,  the  chief 
of  which  arc  continued  down  to  the,  present  age.  The 
Liord^s  supper,  and  the  table  of  the  Lord,  are  denomina- 
tions nearly  equivalent ;  the  one  taken  from  the  time  in  which 
it  was  celebrated  ;  the  other  taken  from  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  eaten,  wherein  it  resembled  an  ordinary  meal.  It  has 
been  a  practice  in  all  countries  to  commemorate  great,  and 
interesting  events,  and  to  testify  mutual  joy,  and  affection 
oa  such  occasions,  by  feasting  together.     These  denomina- 


479 

tions,  therefore,  imply  that  this  ordinance  is  to  be  viewed  as 
a  festival  of  commemoration,  in  which  the  faithful  meet  at 
the  same  table,  to  testify  their  common  interest  in  the  great 
sacrifice  of  the  cross,  and  their  common  faith,  and  hope,  in 
the  redemption  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  their  Lord. 

In  reference  to  these  objects,  chiefly,  it  is,  that  these  de- 
votional acts  have  been  styled  the  communion,  the  eiichci' 
rist,  or  the  cup  of  blessing,  not  only  from  the  act  of  thanks- 
giving by  which  it  is  consecrated,  or  blessed  for  the  use  of 
the  communicant,  but  from  the  praise  and  gratitude  which 
should  fill  the  heart  of  the  humble  believer  in  this  holy  ser- 
vice, and  which  is  usually  expressed  with  ardour  by  th» 
voice,  while  occupied  in  celebrating  this  memorial  of  the  in- 
finite goodness  and  mercy  of  Almighty  God,  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  denominated,  likewise,  by  the 
apostle,  the  breaking  of  bread  ;  and,  to  mention  no  more, 
out  of  the  many  titles  which  it  afterwards  received  in  the 
church,  it  is,  in  the  holy  scriptures,  called  our  passover  ;  be- 
cause it  was,  under  the  new  economy,  evidently  instituted  in 
the  room  of  that  ancient  sacrament  under  the  antecedent  dis- 
pensation. There  existed  indeed,  an  obvious  analogy  between 
the  two  ordinances.  The  paschal  lamb  was  a  type  of  Christ. 
That  victim  was  offered  in  commemoration  of  the  great  deliv- 
erance of  Israel  from  the  bondage -of  Egypt,  which  had  a  typi- 
cal allusion  to  the  infinitely  greater  salvation  of  the  cross,  in 
which  were  censnmmated  all  {her  types  of  the  altar.     The 


480 

principal  difference  between  these  ordinances,  wliich  serves, 
however,  to  illustrate  their  analogy,  is,  that  the  one  was  the 
memorial  of  a  temporal,  the  other  of  an  eternal  salvation — 
the  one  consisted  of  a  bloodj  victim  which  prefigured  the 
great  sacrifice  of  the  gospel ;  The  other  is  the  bloodless  me- 
morial of  the  last  of  victims,  which  hath  finished  our  salva- 
tion and  accomplished  an  everlasting  righteousness. — The 
ceremonies  of  the  one,  were  also  borrowed  from  those  of  the 
other.  For,  the  victim  apart,  which  can  no  longer  be  offer- 
ed under  the  gospel,  the  bread  was  used  in  imitation  of  the 
unleavened  bread  of  the  passover,  which  the  Jews  ate,  af- 
ter being  blessed  or  consecrated  by  prayer  and  thanksgiving. 
The  cup,  likewise,  formed  a  considerable  part  of  the  paschal 
festival,  which  they  always  blessed,  before  receiving  it,  by 
a  form  of  prayer,  and  action  of  thanks ;  and  the  last  cup, 
which  concluded  the  whole  service,  was  succeeded  by  an 
hymn ;  which  hymn,  their  learned  men  inform  us,  consisted 
of  the  following  psalms,  113 — 118;  and  is  supposed,  by 
many  writers,  to  have  been  the  same  which  Christ,  with  his 
disciples,  sung  at  the  conclusion  of  his  last  supper. 

OF  THE  CEREMONIES  WITH  WHICH  THE    ADMINISTRATION 
OP  THIS  ORDINANCE  OUGHT  TO  BE  ACCOMPANIED. 

As  the  dispensation  of  the  gospel  entirely  rejects  the  cum- 
brous ritual  of  the  law,  and  rejoices  only  in  the  simplicity  and 
purity  of  its  spirit,  the  administration  of  this  ordinance,  al- 


481 

though  the  most  solemn  which  is  known,  under  the  new  co- 
venant, ought  to  be  accompanied  only  with  those  simple  ce- 
remonies recorded  by  the  evangelists  in  its  original  institution^ 
and  recited  by  St.  Paul  in  its  repetition.  They  consist 
merely  in  prayer  and  thanksgiving,  by  an  administrator  pro- 
perly authorized  to  consecrate  the  elements,  and  separate 
them  from  an  ordinary  to  a  sacred  use — in  the  breaking  of 
the  bread,  and  distribution  of  the  cup,  in  the  presence  of 
the  communicants — in  a  declaration  of  the  nature  and  design 
of  the  ordinance,  by  the  officiating  priest,  and  of  the  proper 
qualifications  of  those  who  may  be  admitted  to  partake  of  ita 
grace— in  receiving  it  in  both  kinds  in  the  usual  posture  of 
feasting  which  obtains  in  each  country — and,  finally,  conclude 
ing  the  whole  with  some  proper  form  of  thanksgiving,  and 
some  devout  hymn  of  praise.  Our  Saviour  employed  un» 
leavened  bread  in  this  holy  office,  because  no  other  was  eat- 
en at  Jerusalem  in  the  season  of  the  passover ; — his  posture 
was,  reclining  on  a  couch,  which,  in  that  age,  was  the  only 
one  in  use  at  public  feasts,  and,  generally,  also  at  private 
meals.  But,  as  there  is  no  precept  enjoining  the  use  of  un- 
leavened bread,  as  in  the  Jewish  festival,  christians  may  use 
their  liberty  as  to  the  kind ;  though  the  church  of  Rome, 
which  is  negligent  of  other  parts  of  the  divine  example,  is 
scrupulous  in  using  bread,  or  wafers  without  leaven.  The 
same  church,  as  well  as  some  of  the  protestant  communion, 
receive  this  sacrament  in  the  posture  of  adoration,  instead  of 

the  ordinary  attitude  of  feasting,  which  was  used  by  our 

6] 


482 

Lord,  and  his  disciples.  But  in  determining  what  ceremo- 
nies ought  to  be  employed  in  conformity  with  the  great  ex- 
ample which  is  to  direct  our  conduct,  and  what  punctilios 
may  be  varied  or  dispensed  with,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in 
mind  the  end  of  the  institution,  and  the  circumstances  attend- 
ing the  time  of  its  original  celebration.  Its  double  end,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  to  be  a  memorial  of  the  death  of  oui* 
Lord,  and  a  symbol  of  the  union  of  his  people  ;  both  which 
were  attained  by  the  institution  of  a  solemn  festival.  It  is 
conformable  to  reason,  therefore,  that  the  posture  of  feasting, 
as  it  prevails  in  each  country,  ought  to  be  preserved  in  this 
religious  act.  But  the  species  of  bread,  used  in  this  ordi- 
nance,' or  the  time  of  the  day,  devoted  to  it,  at  its  original 
administration,  being  intimately  connected  with  the  customs 
of  the  Jewish  passover,  do  not  impose  upon  the  christian 
church  any  obligation  of  conformity  in  these  respects. 

The  posture  of  adoration,  and  the  denial  of  the  cup  to  the 
laity,  having  sprung,  in  the  church  of  Rome,  from  supersti- 
tious views  of  the  ordinance,  and  false  ideas  of  the  miracu* 
lous  conversion  of  the  bread  and  wine  into  the  real  body  and 
blood  of  Christ,  ought  to  be  rejected  along  with  the  supersti- 
tious service. 

The  ceremonies  accompanying  this  christian  rite,  appear 
to  have  been  copied,  in  general,  from  those  which  obtained 
in  the  Jewish  passover.     Among  that  people,  the  adminis- 


483 

(rator  always  blessed  Ihe  elements,  or  pronounced  a  prayer 
of  benediction  and  thanksgiving  over  them,  and  especially 
over  the  cup,  distributing  it  afterwards  to  all  who  were  pre- 
sent at  the  table.  In  reference  to  this  act  of  devotion  the 
psalmist  exclaims,  /  will  take  the  cup  of  salvatio7h  and  will 
call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord.  And,  in  the  christian 
church  the  cup  was  given  to  the  laity,  as  well  as  to  the  cler- 
gy,  till,  a  short  time  after  the  commencement  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  a  different  custom  began  to  prevail  among  the  La- 
tins. And,  finally,  in  the  council  of  Constance,  in  the  year 
1414,  the  laity  were  entirely  prohibited  from  receiving  the 
cup,  as  if  it  actually  contained  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God. 
"It  would  be  impious,"  said  those  blind  and  superstitious 
priests,  "  if  anj'^  of  the  divine  and  heavenly  drops  should, 
by  any  accident  among  the  communicants,  be  spilled  upon 
the  ground."  For  the  same  reason,  those  ignorant  men  or- 
dered the  bread  to  be  formed  into  a  wafer,  and  put  into  the 
mouth  of  each  communicant,  least  any  crumb  should  be 
lost,  and  that  each  might  receive  the  whole  host^  as  it  was 
called,  a  superstitious  term  derived  from  the  Latin,  and  signi- 
fying the  sacrifice,  or  victim.  The  original  custom,  however, 
still  prevailed  throughout  all  the  East,  among  the  Greeks, 
the  Russians,  the  Armenians,  the  Abyssinians,  the  Copts, 
and  even  the  Nestorians,  and  Jacobins ;  and  has  been  receiv- 
ed in  all  the  reformed  churches. 


484 

Pure  wine,  wherever  it  can  be  obtained,  ought  to  be  em- 
ployed not  only  because  it  is  the  best  emblem  of  that  pre* 
cious  blood  which  gives  life  and  strength  to  those  who  use  it, 
but  because  it  is  strictly  conformable  to  the  example  of  the 
Saviour  in  its  original  institution.  Where  wine  cannot  be 
obtained,  or  where  it  remarkably  disagrees  with  the  stomach, 
reason  dictates  that  it  must,  or  that  it  ought  to  be  omitted. 
But  they  are  to  be  blamed  who,  like  the  hydroparastata?, 
substitute  water,  or  any  other  liquor  in  the  room  of  wine. 
The  custom  of  substituting  weaker  liquors,  void  of  spirit  in 
the  room  of  wine,  which  was  practised  by  certain  small  sects, 
was,  probably,  introduced  originally,  by  some  weak,  but  pi- 
ous men,  as  a  preventative  against  intoxication,  too  many  in- 
stances of  which,  as  we  learn  from  the  apostle,  had  taken 
place,  to  the  great  reproach  of  their  holy  profession,  in  con- 
sequence of  too  liberal  a  use  of  that  strong  liquor.  For,  in 
that  age,  they  literally  feasted  upon  bread  and  wine,  a  diet 
to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  from  its  plenty,  and  did 
not  use  it  in  that  sparing  manner  which  has  since  been  prac- 
tised in  our  christian  assemblies — 1  Cor,  xi.  21» 

A  declaration  of  the  nature,  and  design  of  the  ordinance, 
and  of  the  requisite  qualifications  of  those  who  may  be  ad- 
mitted, by  the  officers  of  the  church  to  receive  it,  along  with 
the  faithful,  is  evidently  a  custom  of  great  propriety,  in  or- 
der to  recall  to  mind,  more  forcibly,  the  import  and  solemni- 
ty of  that  sacred  transaction,  and  to  assist  the  ignorant  in  ex- 


485 

amining  themselves;  a  serious  duty  which  is  incumbent  up- 
on all  before  they  adventure  to  eat  of  that  bready  and  drink 
of  that  cup — 1  Cor.  xi.  28. 

The  only  circumstance  farther,  which  it  is  of  importance 
to  remark  in  the  administration  of  this  ordinance,  is,  that,  in 
all  ordinary  cases,  it  ought  to  be  performed  only  by  a  per- 
son properly  qualified,  and  ordained  to  the  pastoral  office 
by  the  government  of  the  church.  It  was,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, dispensed  by  our  Lord  himself.  Afterwards  it  fell 
to  be  administered  by  the  apostles,  and  those  whom  they 
had  set  apart  to  preach  the  word,  and  dispense  the  sacra- 
ments. And,  generally,  it  is  requisite,  for  the  sake  of  or- 
der, and  common  utility,  that  this  holy  office  should  be  con- 
fined to  those,  who  are  the  regular  successors  of  the  apos- 
tles, and  ordained  according  to  that  form  which  the  gospel 
has  prescribed,  or  the  church  esteems  best  calculated  for 
preserving  purity  of  doctrine,  and  of  manners. — Yet,  where 
any  society  of  chrisfians  is,  from  the  nature  of  their  circum- 
stances, deprived  of  those  aids,  perhaps  they  ought  to  as- 
semble for  the  worship  of  God,  and  may,  without  violence 
to  the  institutions  of  Christ,  appoint  men  of  prudence  and 
piety,  from  among  themselves,  to  lead  in  their  devotions, 
and  to  preside  in  these  sacred  festivals  of  love.  This  is  a 
liberty,  however,  which  ought  always  to  be  used  with  the 
most  profoimd  caution,  and  only  after  the  most  serious  con- 
viction of  its  absolute  necessity. 


486 


OF  THE  USE  OF  CEREMONIES,  OR  EXTERNAL  SYMBOLS. 

Since  the  gospel  is  a  dispensation,  and  requires  a  worship 
of  the  most  pure  and  spiritual  kind,  it  may  well  be  made  a 
question,  why  any  material  elements,  or  symbols  hke  these 
should  be  employed  in  its  religious  services  ?  And  I  would 
answer,  that  it  appears  to  arise  simply  from  a  gracious  con- 
descension in  Almighty  God,  and  accommodation  to  the  im- 
perfection of  our  nature.  While  we  remain  in  the  body,  we 
are  necessarily  and  strongly  affected  by  certain  striking  and 
sensible  signs,  on  serious  and  interesting  occasions.  The 
bloody  robe  of  Caesar  displayed  to  the  populace  of  Rome 
was  more  eloquent  than  all  the  harangues  of  the  assertors  of 
her  liberty.  On  this  principle  of  our  nature,  statues,  and 
altars  have  been  erected,  and  festivals  instituted  to  the  me- 
mory of  great  men  by  the  gratitude  of  nations,  or  employed 
in  the  celebration  of  illustrious  events.  On  the  same  princi- 
ple, we  love  to  wear  some  relic,  or  to  adopt  some  symbol 
of  mourning,  to  recall  the  idea  of  our  departed  friends.  On 
the  two  greatest  occasions,  therefore,  in  our  christian  course, 
our  initiation  into  the  church  of  Christ,  and  giving  our  pub- 
lie  and  explicit  assent  to  our  christian  covenant,  it  appears  to 
be  wise  and  good  to  require  these  solemn  and  interesting  acta 
to  be  confirmed  by  apt,  and  significant  symbols  which  are 
calculated  deeply  to  impvess  the  mind  by  a£fecting  the  sen- 
ses.    On  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  good  and  wise  m  hiiUj 


46t 

not  to  bave  loaded  his  worship  with  an  unmeaning  multitude 
of  ceremonies.  For,  it  is  not  more  certain,  that,  on  all  just, 
and  great  occasions,  sensible  emblems  properly  chosen,  have 
a  powerful  and  useful  effect,  than  that  too  great  a  multiplica-^ 
tion  of  ceremonies,  strongly  inclines  the  mind  to  a  frivolous 
superstition,  substituting  rites,  and  external  forms  in  th? 
room  of  true  devotion  and  holiness  of  life. 

OF  TRANSUBSTANTIATIOX. 

In  different  parts  of  the  church,  some  errors  have  been  in- 
troduced into  this  holy  rite,  but  since  the  light  which  has  so 
abundantly  been  shed  upon  it  by  the  protestant  wiiters,  they 
are  no  longer  in  danger  of  producing  any  pernicious  effect, 
and  the  palpable  absurdity  of  Transubstanliation,  in  parti- 
cular, hardly  requires  a  serious  refutation. — By  this  term, 
which,  for  a  long  time,  misled,  wilh  almost  magical  effect, 
the  church  of  Rome,  was  intended,  the  transmutation  sup- 
posed to  pass  on  the  elements  of  bread  and  wine,  into  the 
real  body  and  blood  of  Christ :  an  opinion,  most  evidently, 
contrary  to  reason,  and  common  sense ;  and  which  has  no 
support  in  the  language  of  scripture,  or  the  usages  of  the 
primitive  ages.  This  doctrine  contradicts  the  evidence  of 
all  our  senses,  by  which  alone  we  can  form  an  accurate  judg- 
ment on  the  qualities  of  material  subjects.  If  our  senses 
could  be  so  far  violated  that  the  essences  of  flesh  and  blood 
could  be  covered  under  the  sensible  qualities  of  bread  anrJ 


488 

wine,  we  could  have  no  criterion  left  by  which  to  judge  of 
any  miracle ;  the  whole  rational  evidence  of  religion  would 
be  annihilated  by  this  single  position.  Besides,  it  involves 
the  most  palpable  contradiction,  which  it  is  scarcely  worthy 
your  time  to  point  out,  that  the  same  body  should  be  entire 
in  heaven,  and  upon  earth  ;  in  ten  thousand  pieces  of  bread, 
or  drops  of  wine ;  and  in  ten  thousand  diflferent  places  at  the 
same  time.  And  a  man,  according  to  this  monstrous  absurdi- 
ty, by  living  on  the  sacramental  elements,  might  become 
transmuted,  vile  as  he  is,  into  the  real  body  of  our  blessed 
Saviour.  The  follies  of  this  doctrine  were  strongly  combat- 
ted  by  the  protestant  writers  of  the  last  age ;  for,  having  re- 
cently emerged  from  the  bosom  of  popery,  they  were  every 
where  mingled  with  numerous  adherents  to  that  superstition. 
But  in  our  age,  and  country,  little  need  be  said  to  guard  pi- 
ous men  against  such  an  irrational  dogma.  The  disciples  of 
popery  allege,  in  support  of  this  strange  opinion,  the  words 
of  our  Lord  himself; — This  is  my  body  which  is  broken  for 
you  ;  making  him  to  be  alive,  and  breaking,  and  distributing 
his  dead  body  at  the  same  time.  The  expression  which  follows 
might  have  cured,  or  prevented  this  mistake — do  this  in  re- 
membrance of  me,  as  a  standing  memorial  of  my  death.  It 
is  a  plain,  and  obvious  figure  of  speech,  familiar  in  the  lan- 
guage of  all  nations.  A  sentence  of  Cicero,  which  seems 
as  if  written  with  a  view  to  this  occasion,  might  have  been  a 
sufficient  refutation  of  the  absurd  interpretation  of  this  lan- 
guage.— "Dum  fruges  Cererem,  vinum  Liberum  dicimus, 


489 

genere  no«  quidem  sermonis  utimur  usitalo,  sed  ecquen  tatn 
amentem  esse  putas,  qui  illud,  quo  vescatur  Deum  credat  es- 
se ?"  Cic.  de  nat.  Deor.  lib.  3.  chap.  16.  §.  41. 

Transubstantiation  is  a  doctrine  of  which  we  find  nothing 
in  the  writers  who  flourished  in  the  four,  or  five  first  centu- 
ries of  the  church.  In  the  sixth  century,  the  elevation  of 
the  hosty  as  it  began  then  figuratively  to  be  called,  was  first 
introduced ;  not,  however,  for  the  purpose  of  adoration,  but 
that  all  might  see  it,  and  that  it  might  the  better  represent 
the  elevation  of  Christ  upon  the  cross.  It  was  not,  until  the 
extreime  ignorance  of  the  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  centuries, 
that  this  idolatrous  opinion  and  practice  generally  prevailed. 

The  consequences,  and  abuses  of  this  doctrine  we  have 
seen  in  the  denial  of  the  cup  to  the  laity — the  idolatrous  ado« 
ration  of  the  host — sending  it  to  the  absent — keeping  it  in 
their  houses,  and  about  their  persons,  as  a  charm — carrying 
it  through  the  streets  on  occasions  of  great  calamity— giving 
it  to  the  dead,  by  laying  it  on  their  breasts,  especially  if 
they  were  priests,  and  even  burying  it  with  them  as  a  pass- 
port to  heaven. 

OF  CONSUBSTANTIATIOI?. 

It  is  BO  difficult  entirely  to  divest  t^e  mind  of  its  prejudi- 

<'es,  and  to  cast  off  errors  which  have  incorporated  th^m- 

fi2 


490 

selves  deeply  into  our  habits  of  thinking,  that  Luther,  and 
his  followers,  although  convinced  of  the  error  and  absurdity 
of  transubstantiation,  were  attracted,  by  the  power  of  preju- 
dice, into  some  unintelligible  resemblance  of  their  ancient 
principle.  They  condemned  the  absurdity,  if  not  impiety, 
of  the  actual  transmutation  of  the  bread  and  wine  into  the 
real  body  and  blood  of  the  Son  of  God;  but,  in  a  language 
not  much  more  clear  and  comprehensible,  maintained  that 
this  precious  sacrifice  was  wholly  received  in,  with,  and 
Under,  the  elements  in  the  supper.  I  do  not  profess  to  ex- 
plain these  mysterious  terms ;  but,  if  they  have  any  definite 
meaning,  they  embrace  one  of  the  principal  absurdities  which 
embarrass  the  other  doctrine. — They  represent  the  same 
body  as  present  in  many  different  places  at  the  same  time. 
The  great  reformer  impressed,  by  bis  education,  with  a  su- 
perstitious veneration  for  the  symbols  used  in  this  ordinance, 
wished  equally  to  avoid  the  error  into  which  the  Catholics 
had  been  lead,  and  to  favour  his  own  prejudices,  and  there- 
fore embraced  a  form  of  expression,  which  imposed  upon  him- 
self, while  it  was  destitute  of  any  clear  and  definite  meaning. 

.  of  the  requisite  qualifications  in  those  who 
would  worthilr  partake  of  the 
lord's  supper. 

Many  writers  have  alleged,  and  of  these  not  a  few  in  the 
very  first  ages,  that  the  constitution  of  the^bristian  and  visi- 


491 

ble  church,  requires,  that  those  who  have  been  initialed  by 
baptism,  should  be  introduced  also  to  the  participation  of  its 
ultimate  sacrament  in  the  Lord's  Supper.     This  opinion  ari- 
ses from  a  misconception  of  the  nature  and  design  of  the  two 
ordinances ;  which  may  be  learned  from  a  small  attention  to 
the  origin  of  the  church.     Baptism  was  designed  to  make  a 
visible  and  public  proposition  of  salvation  on  the  terras  of  the 
New  Covenant,  to  those  who,  otherwise,  were  the  heirs  of 
death,  through  the  condemnation  of  the  original  dispensation. 
To  every  baptized  infant  this  proposition  of  salvation  is  pro- 
visionally made,  on  the  conditions  of  repentance  and  faith  in 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     So  far,  then,  the  infant  is  the  pas- 
sive subject,  or  recipient  of  the  divine  mercy  in  this  ordi- 
nance.    And  it  is  his  visible  warrant  to  embrace  these  gra- 
cious terms  of  our  redemption.     The  Lord's  Supper,  on  the 
other  hand,  is   an   active  service  ;  and  contains  an  active 
pledge  of  our  having  embraced  the  covenant,  and  of  our 
fidelity  to  all  its  conditions.     This  places  a  material  dilTer- 
ence  between  the  two  ordinances,  and  requires,  in  particular, 
of  those  who  would  worthily  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
"  Ihat  they  examine  themselves  of  their  knowledge  to  discern 
the  Lord's  body,  of  their  faith  to  feed  upon  him,  of  their  re- 
pentance, love,  and  new  obedience."     A  condition  which 
cannot  reasonably  be   required  of  infants. — Without  a  just 
knowledge  of  the  nature  and  design  of  the  ordinauce,  we  can- 
not offer  a  rational,  and  acceptable  service  in  it  to  Almighty 
God.     Faith  is  requisite  to  give  importance  to  the  object  of 


49'i 

our  worship,  and  a  proper  interest  in  Ibe  duly.  While  we 
celebrate  the  dying  love  of  our  Redeemer,  it  becomes  us, 
with  profound  humilitj,  and  repentance,  to  recollect  the  sins 
for  which  he  endured  such  sufierings,  and,  with  the  most 
lively  gratitude  and  love,  to  recall  him  to  mind  who  laid 
down  his  life  that  we  might  live. 

I  add,  farther,  that,  as  this  ordinance  is  a  feast  of  charity 
and  love,  it  is  most  highly  requisite,  that  all  who  would  wor- 
thily partake  of  it  should  be  in  perfect  peace  with  their  breth- 
ren ;  be  ever  ready  to  forgive  their  enemies,  and  cherish  no 
hatred  against  any  man.  Charity  among  our  fellow  men  is 
the  truest  image  of  God  our  Heavenly  Father.  But  in  the 
exercise  of  the  discipline  of  the  church,  we  can  only  examine 
into  the  knowledge  of  the  communicant ;  receive  the  pro- 
fession of  his  faith  ;  and  see  that  his  external  deportment  is 
consistent  with  the  doctrine  and  example  of  his  Saviour. 

OF  THE  BENEFITS  OF  A  SERIOUS   AND  PIOUS  USE  OP  THIB 
HOLY  ORDINANCE,  AND  THE  DANGERS  OF  ITS  ABUSE. 

Before  concluding  these  observations  on  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, suffer  me  very  shortly  to  remark  the  benefits  resulting 
from  a  devout  attendance  on  this  holy  ordinance ;  and  the 
dangers  of  its  abuse.  Its  evident  tendency  is  to  confirm  our 
resolutions  of  duty,  and  to  awaken  and  strengthen  all  the  gra- 
ces of  the  christian  life.     But  as  every  act  of  religion  per» 


493 

tbrmed  in  an  irreverent  manner,  contributes  lo  harden  the 
heart,  and  alienate  it  more  from  real  and  vital  holiness,  Iheiie 
consequences,  in  a  much  higher  degree,  attend,  or  follow  the 
abuse  of  an  institution  so  sacred  and  solemn.  In  the  first  age 
ofcthe  church,  many  insincere  disciples,  only  partially  re- 
claimed from  paganism,  misled  by  the  ideas  and  habits  ex- 
isting in  the  festivals  of  the  heathen  gods,  introduced  a  licen- 
tiousness  in  its  celebration,  highly  unbecoming  the  sanctity, 
and  purity  of  the  christian  church.  In  that  miraculous  pe- 
riod, the  disorder  was  consequently,  followed  by  visible  and 
frequently  instantaneous  judgments  from  Almighty  God. 
For  this  cause,  saith  the  apostle,  many  are  weak  and  sick- 
ly among  you,  and  many  sleep.  And,  probably,  to  these 
effects  chiefly,  the  same  apostle  had  reference  when  he  utters 
the  following  denunciation — "  He  that  eateth,  and  drinkelh 
unworthily,  eateth  and  drinketh  judgment  to  himself,  not 
discerning  the  Lord's  body.  , 

These  terrible  examples  of  divine  displeasure,  thus  mira- 
culously inflicted,  seem  to  have  contributed  to  throw  the 
christians  of  the  following  age  into  the  opposite  extreme  of 
excessive  fear,  and  superstitious  veneration  of  this  holy  ordi- 
nance. Since  miracles  have  ceased,  the  judgments  which 
follow  the  abuse  of  the  LortFs  Supper,  appear  to  be  rather 
of  a  spiritual,  than  a  temporal  nature — lidcewarnmess  in  eve- 
ry pious  feeling,  and  hardness  of  heart,  which  gradually  leads 
to  the  total  dereliction  of  the  oflSces  of  piety.     This  fearf'  ' 


494 

state  of  abandonment  by  God,  is,  perhaps,  more  hastened  by 
an  improper  use  of  this  holy  rite,  than  by  all  other  deficien- 
cies in  religious  duty,  and,  almost,  by  all  other  vices. 

Other  pretended  sacraments,  added  to  the  ritual  of  ^j^ 
holy  scriptures  by  the  church  of  Rome,'^  it  is  unnecessary 
to  take  lip  your  time  either  to  explain  or  refute.     I  proceed, 
therefore  to  a  brief  consideration  of  our  future  state  of  exis- 
tence. 

*  ConfirmatioD,  Penance,  OrdioatioR,  Marriage,  Extreme  Unction 


ON 


A  FUTURE  STATE. 


ON         , 

A  FUTURE  STATE. 


The  last  doctrine  of  revelation  which  remains  to  be  conai- 
dered,  is  that  of  our  future  state  of  being. — The  hope  of  ex- 
isting after  the  present  life  was  not  utterly  lost  from  among  man* 
^tind,  even  amidst  the  darkness  and  corruptions  of  paganism. 
But,  to  the  vulgar  mass,  the  prospect  was  so  obscure,  and  the 
hope  so  uncertain,  that  it  could  afford  but  small  excitement 
to  duty  in  life,  and  to  the  timid,  and  miserable,  but  little  con- 
solation in  their  last  moments.  It  was  so  blended  with  the 
melancholy  phantoms  of  a  superstitious  imagination,  it  serv- 
ed rather  to  oppress  than  shed  any  comfort  on  the  hour  of 
death.  We  have  seen  in  our  disquisitions  on  natural  reli- 
gion, and  its  ultimate  motives  to  virtue,  that  many  of  their 
sages  were  able  to  create  to  themselves  more  reasonable,  but 
still  dubious  expectations  of  existing  hereafter.  But  it  is  on- 
ly in  the  word  of  God,  and,  especially,  in  the  gospel  of  our 
Wessed  Saviour,  that  the  trembling  hopes  of  nature  are  ren- 
dered fixed  and  certain,  and  the  obscurities  of  reason,  are 
enlightened.  And  to  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  it  has  added  a  principle  which  the  human  mind  had  ne- 
ver before  dared  to  conceive  ;  I  mean  the  resurrection  of  the 

63 


498 

body,  and  its  future  and  eternal  union  with  the  soul,  as  res« 
pects  the  pious,  in  a  happy  state  of  existence ;  but  the  im- 
pious in  a  state  of  misery. 

This  doctrine  is  peculiarly  a  doctrine  of  revelation.  On 
this  authority  siiaply  our  credence,  or  faith  ought  to  be  found- 
ed. It  rs  one  of  the  chief  glories  of  Christ,  our  Redeemer, 
that  he  hath  brought  life  and  immortalily  to  light ;  and  so 
hath  rescued  it  from  the  blindness  of  sense,  and  the  doubt- . 
fulness  of  reason.  But  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  the  doctrine 
of  our  future  existence  is  so  intimately  blended  with  that  of 
the  resurrection  of  the  body,  that  we  can  hardly  consider 
them  apart ;  and  it  is  this  which  renders  the  whole  revela* 
tion  peculiarly  precious  to  man,  as  it  brings  our  future 
being  more  within  the  comprehension  of  the  mind,  and  gives 
it  a  stronger  interest  in  the  heart  which  knows  no  other  con- 
.dition  of  human  existence  but  this  compound  state  of  being. 
The  immortality  of  the  soul  would  have  been  easily  receiv- 
ed by  both  the  Jews  and  the  Greeks.  It  already  formed 
part  of  the  popular  belief.  It  was  the  resurrection  which 
created  among  these  people  so  much  astonishment,  and  was 
l^ceived  with  so  much  incredulity.  To  combat  this  infideli- 
ty, and  place  our  immortal  life  upon  its  true  foundation,  the 
apostle  sets  himself  in  this  part  of  his  epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians, where  he  informs  us  that  "  this  corruptible  shall  put 
on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality." 


4991. 

That  we  shall  continue  to  exist  from  the  moment  of  death, 
till  the  final  introduction  of  our  immortal  state,  the  scriptures 
give  us  no  reason  to  entertain  a  doubt,  but  wherein  that  inter- 
mediate condition  shall  consist,  as  they  have  not  condescend- 
ed to  inform  us,  it  would  be  presumptuous  in  us  to  frame  an 
opinion.  On  the  subject  of  the  resurrection,  and  of  our  im- 
mortal life,  they  are  as  explicit  as,  perhaps,  it  is  competent 
for  oar  present  state  of  frailty,  and  mortality  to  comprehend. 

Let  us,  therefore,  with  the  sacred  writer,  employ  a  [ew 
moments  in  contemplating  the  certainty  and  importance  of 
this  doctrine,  its  practical  uses,  and  its  spiritual  consola- 
tions.—Its  certainty  can,  to  the  christian,  rest  only  on  the 
express  declaration  of  the  word  of  God ;  although,  when  thus 
communicated,  many  facts  and  analogies,  drawn  from  the 
course  of  nature,  concur  to  facilitate  our  conceptions,  and 
strengthen  our  confidence  in  this  precious  hope.  "The 
time  is  coming,"  saith  the  infallible  Spirit  of  truth,  "when 
all  they  who  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the 
Son  of  Man,  and  shall  come  forth,  they  that  have  done  well 
to  the  resurrection  of  life,  and  they  that  have  done  evil  to 
the  resurrection  of  damnation."  It  has  always  been  a  sub- 
ject of  anxious  inquiry  to  human  reason  ;  with  what  bodies 
do  they  come  ?  Can  these  corporeal  systems,  after  they 
have  been  long  dissolved  into  their  original  elements,  and  va- 
riously dispersed  in  a  thousand  different  directions,  and  af- 
ter they  have  successively  passed,  perhaps,  into  a  thousand 


500 

other  animated  systems,  be  again  collected  and  reorganized  in 
the  same  body  which  perished  at  death  ?  If  it  were  possi- 
ble, would  it  be  a  reasonable  object  of  desire  in  that  spirit- 
ual and  immortal  state,  that  the  soul  should  be  again  united  to 
a  sluggish  mass  which  might  be  regarded  as  its  former  prison, 
which  impaired  its  active  powers,  and  was  perhaps  the  seat 
of  all  the  errors  of  reason,  and  of  all  the  disorders  of  the 
passions  ? 

The  same  objections  have  ever  been  presented  as  insolva- 
ble  difficulties  to  reason.  But  what  christian  can  entertain  a 
doubt  concerning  the  Almighty  power,  and  the  omniscient 
wisdom  of  God,  which  is  equally  able  to  accomplish  the  re= 
surrection,  as  the  creation  of  human  nature  ?  The  apostle 
meets  the  difficulty  by  a  beautiful  image  taken  from  the  grain 
which  the  husbandman  casts  into  the  earth.  It  seems  to  pe- 
rish. It  becomes  a  mass  of  putrefaction.  But  there  is  a 
delicate,  and  almost  imperceptible  germ  which  survives,  and 
presently  assumes  a  new,  and  much  more  beautiful  form. 
Can  we  doubt  but  that  the  whole  vegetable,  with  all  its  appa- 
ratus of  fruits  and  flowers,  was  included  in  that  minute  and 
invisible  particle  which  receives  a  new  life  in  the  midst  of 
death  ?  On  the  resurrection  another  lesson  is  suggested  to 
us  from  the  numerous  transmutations  of  the  insect  tribes 
which  daily  pass  under  our  review.  A  deformed  and  slug- 
gish grub  weaves  a  tomb  for  itself.     It  seems  to  become  eX' 


501 

tinct.     But,  in  a  little  tame,  we  see  it  mount  into  the  air  in  a 
new  form,  and  adorned  with  the  most  beautiful  colouring. 

Of  spiritual  and  celestial  objects,  which  are  so  far  above 
the  reach  of  our  present  faculties,  frequently,  we  are  left  to 
collect  our  judgments  only  from  analogy.  And  although 
such  analogies  can  never  convey  adequate  images  of  things 
which  eye  hath  not  seen,  and  of  which  it  hath  not  entered  in- 
to the  heart  of  man  to  conceive,  yet  they  seem  to  throw 
some  feeble  rays  of  light  upon  Ihem,  and  to  otTer  some  foun- 
dation on  which  the  mind,  exhausted  by  its  own  efforts,  can 
rest.  In  casting  our  view  around,  then,  nature  teaches  us 
important  lessons,  and  presents  to  us  many  impressive  ima- 
ges of  the  future  resurrection  of  human  nature.  Some  re- 
semblance of  it  we  see  in  the  new  creation  which  every  ver- 
nal season  produces,  when  all  the  glories  of  the  year  are  seen 
to  spring,  if  I  may  speak  so,  from  the  tomb  of  Winter. 
These  images,  indeed,  are  only  imperfect  representations, 
adapted  to  the  weakness  of  our  nature,  of  that  great  object  of 
our  faith.  The  only  solid  and  immovable  foundation  of  a 
christian's  hope,  as  I  have  already  said,  is  the  word  of 
God  but  now  is  Christ  risen,  and  become  the  Jirst  fruits  of 
them  thai  sleep. 

Another  objection  against  the  doctrine  of  a  resurrection  is 
drawn,  from  the  ills  and  inconveniencies  resulting  to  the  soul 
from  its  union  with  the  body  in  the  present  life.     This  sing- 


502 

gish  and  unwieldy  mass  of  matler  is  supposed  fo  be  rather  the 
prison  than  the  helpful  companion  of  the  soul ;  to  have  a  ten- 
dency to  cloud,  and  darken  the  clearness  of  its  perceptions, 
and  to  oppress  and  enchain  the  activity  of  its  powers. — Al- 
though these  evils  should  be  justly  objected  to  the  present 
gross  and  disordered  bodies  which  we  inhabit,  yet  such  is 
the  nature  and  order  of  human  spirits  that  it  is  only  by  being 
united  to  some  corporeal  system  that  they  can  receive  any 
ideas  at  all.  And,  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just,  all  that  is 
gross,  all  that  is  disordered,  all  that  i3  impure,  we  are  assur- 
ed from  revelation,  shall  be  for  ever  separated  from  the  bo- 
dies of  the  saints  raised  in  immortal  life ;  and,  we  are  farther 
taught  to  believe,  that  their  powers,  their  activity,  and  glory 
shall  correspond  with  the  exalted  rank  which  the  soul  shall 
hold  in  the  scale  of  being  in  her  celestial  state. — If  it  be  ask- 
ed, whether  these,  can  he  the  same  bodies  that  we  inhabited 
here,  which  shall  assume  such  different  properties,  and  pre- 
sent so  much  more  glorious  an  appearance  ? — Certainly  this 
cannot  be  incredible  to  a  christian,  or  a  philosopher,  when 
we  are  continually  beholding  the  same  elements  receiving 
from  the  hand  of  nature  the  most  various  forms.  Do  not  the 
same  elements  compose  the  unsightly  clay  which  we  trample 
under  our  feet,  and  the  resplendent  diamond  which  imitates 
the  sun  in  the  crowns  of  princes  ?  The  lightning  which,  in 
its  destructive  course,  rends  oaks,  and  rocks  to  pieces,  and 
the  niild  and  glorious  rays  of  the  orb  that  gives  life,  and 
licalth,  and  beauty  to  the  whole  universe.     Accordingly  the 


503 

apostle  hath  said,  that  all  flesh  is  not  the  same  in  its  outn^ard 
form,  and  visible  appearance ;  but  "  there  is  one  flesh  of 
men,  and  another  of  beasts"  though  nourished  by  the  same 
herbage  ;  "  there  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  another  glory 
of  the  moon,  and  another  of  the  stars  ;"  though  all  proceed- 
ing from  the  same  light.  Not  less  difl*erence  may  we  expect 
to  find,  between  our  present  tenements  of  clay,  which,  at 
death,  return  to  their  original  dust,  and  those  celestial  tem- 
ples, in  which  the  glorified  spirit  shall  dwell  forever.  Rais- 
ed to  heaven  by  the  power  and  love  of  the  Redeemer,  to  in- 
habit the  worlds  of  light  above,  this  corporeal  system  will  be 
conformed  in  beauty  and  perfection  to  its  immortal  habitation. 
— "  This  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality.  Sown  in  weak- 
ness it  shall  be  raised  in  power;  sown  in  dishonor,  it  shall 
be  raised  in  glory ;  sown  a  natural,"  that  is,  a  gross  and  ani- 
mal "body,  it  shall  be  raised  a  spiritual  body" — a  body,  in- 
conceivably refined,  and  purified  from  the  dregs  of  matter, 
and  possessing,  at  once,  the  rapid  energy,  and  the  imperish- 
able nature  of  spirit.  It  shall  be  invested  with  new  forms, 
and  be  fitted  with  new  organs,  adapted  to  its  celestial  state ; 
and  having  attained  its  highest  perfection,  we  have  the  same 
authority  to  declare  that  it  shall  for  ever  shine  with  undecay- 
ing  lustre  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

In  addition  to  the  christian  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  which  contains  the  most  glorious  hope  of  human 
nature,  the  Fesurrection  of  the  body  and  its  immortal  ex?? 


504 

fence  in  rennion  with  the  soul,  is  peculiarly  precious  to  man 
by  the  very  constitution  of  his  nature,  meets,  in  the  best 
possible  ttianner,  his  ideas,  and  hopes  of  happiness. 

Spirits  there  may  be  of  a  superior  order  which  have  no 
connexion  with  any  material  system,  and  are  not  depen- 
dent, for  their  knowledge,  or  their  enjoyments  on  any  sensi- 
ble organs.  But  of  their  modes  of  existence,  and  their  sour- 
ces of  happiness,  we  can  frame  no  conception.  All  our 
ideas,  and  all  our  pleasures  come  to  us  through  the  medium 
of  sense.  And  our  spirits  are  of  such  an  order,  as  has  been 
before  remarked,  that  their  knowledge,  their  felicity,  their  per- 
fection, depend  on  their  connexion,  in  some  way,  with  a  corpo- 
real system.  Every  thing  connects  us  with  the  body,  every 
thing  attaches  us  to  the  body. — Hence  the  apostle  has  said ; 
— "  We,  who  are  in  this  tabernacle,  do  groan,  being  burdened, 
not  that  we  would  be  unclothed ;" — not,  that  it  is  the  object  of 
these  anxious  wishes  to  be  disembodied,  "  but  that  we  may  be 
clothed  upon  with  our  house  which  is  from  heaven  -,"  what 
that  celestial,  and  regenerated  body  which  shall  be  freed 
from  all  the  pains  and  imperfections  of  this  mortal  flesh,  and 
which  is  only  our  present  nature  exalted  to  its  ultimate  per- 
fection and  glory.  "  The  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature," 
continues  the  same  apostle,  "  waileth  for  the  manifestation  of 
the  sons  of  God,"  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just.  "The 
whole  creation  groaneth,  even  those  who  have  received  the 
gifts  of  the  Spirit,  groan  within  themselves,  waiting  for  the 


606 

redemption  of  the  body." — What,  indeed,  would  be  the 
pleasure  of  existence  to  the  soul,  if  we  could  suppose  it  coH" 
scious  of  existence,  deprived  of  the  action,  and  aids  of  the 
senses,  which  are,  at  present,  the  only  inlets  of  its  knowl- 
edge, and  the  chief  sources  of  its  enjoyments  ? 

As  the  christian,  and  scriptural  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
corresponds,  in  this  manner,  with  the  dearest  hopes,  and 
wishes  of  the  human  heart,  it  contributes  likewise,  to  assist 
the  perceptions  of  faith.  We  are  not  left  in  total  darkness 
concerning  the  nature  of  our  future  being.  Some  ideas  we 
may  frame  with  relation  to  this  obscure  subject,  without  the 
hazard  of  being  entirely  lost  in  the  unsubstantial  regions  of 
fancy.  The  state  of  our  future  existence  presents  to  us,  no 
longer  an  inscrutable  mystery.  Although  it  offers  to  our 
hopes  a  condition  of  existence  inconceivably  improved  and 
raised  above  the  present,  still  we  can  discern  between  them 
some  points  of  resemblance,  which  present  to  us  ideas  on 
that  subject,  at  once  intelligible  to  our  reason,  and  infinitely 
precious  to  the  heart. — In  a  future  life,  we  hare  reason  to 
believe,  our  faculties  will  be  employed,  in  some  measure,  as 
here,  but  with  an  activity  and  vigor  inconceivably  augment- 
ed, in  searching  into  the  wonderful  works  of  God,  in  admir- 
ing the  order,  the  beauty,  and  harmony  of  the  universal  sys- 
tem ;  in  adoring,  and,  with  the  angels,  endeavouring  to  pen- 
etrate the  astonishing  mysteries  of  divine  grace  to  man. 

Blessed,  and  eternal  sources  of  knowledge,   and  felicity.' 

64 


506 

The  faculties  which  we  now  feebly  exert,  in  the  search  of 
truth,  and  in  the  service  of  our  Creator  and  Redeemer, 
will  be  new  created  in  celestial  vigor,  and  raised  in  a  state  of 
undescribable  perfection.  All  the  obstacles  to  our  advance- 
ment in  knowledge,  at  present,  arising  from  the  narrowness 
of  this  corporeal  sphere,  the  imperfection  of  these  mortal 
powers,  the  inactivity,  and  sluggishness  of  these  gross  and 
earthly  organs  will  be  removed.  That  carnal  and  disorder- 
ed mass  which  now  renders  the  body  the  seat  of  impure  pas- 
sions, and  impedes  the  holy  aspirations  of  the  soul,  will  be 
refined  and  purified.  A  body  of  celestial  light ;  a  spiritual 
hody^  as  it  is  styled  by  the  apostle  ;  that  is,  a  body  active 
and  unembarrassed  in  its  movements  like  spirit,  rapid  as  im- 
agination and  thought,  will,  in  heaven,  be  the  fit  instrument 
of  the  glorified  soul,  in  its  sublime,  and  blissful  employments. 

From  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  same  person 
results  a  consoling  anticipation  arising  from  the  knowledge 
of  our  pious  friends  with  whom  we  have  been  connected  up' 
on  earth ;  the  reunion,  in  the  highest  felicity,  of  the  same 
hearts  which  have  been  united  here  in  the  tenderest  affections. 
What  ravishing  pictures  may  imagination  frame,  without 
being  liable  to  the  charge  of  a  falacious  enthusiasm,  of  friend- 
ships renewed  in  heaven ;  of  the  mutual  joys  of  pious  friends 
who  meet  on  that  happy  and  eternal  shore,  escaped  from  all 
the  ills,  and  dangers  of  life ;  of  their  sweet  intercouse,  puri- 
fied from  all  the  passions,  and  weaknesses  of  the  flesh, 


507 

which  disturb  the  harmony  of  this  world ;  of  the  range  they 
m!>y  be  permitted  to  enjoy,  in  society  with  one  another,  amid 
the  glories  of  the  heavenly  world,  to  nourish,  their  celestial 
devotions,  and  diversify  their  holy  enjoyments;  of  those 
flights  which  they  may  be  allowed  to  take  together  into  dis- 
tant provinces  of  the  universal  empire  of  God  to  collect 
knowledge,  and  to  admire  and  adore  him  in  the  astonishing 
operations  of  his  hands ;  or  of  the  raptures  with  which  every 
ray  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness  will  penetrate  their  hearts, 
when  they  turn  their  faces  towards  the  heavenly  Zion,  the 
more  immediate  residence  of  the  divine  glory,  to  raise  their 
common  ascriptions  of  praise  to  the  Father  of  the  universe, 
and  to  recognize,  at  the  foot  of  his  throne,  their  boundless 
obligations  to  redeeming  love. — But  restraining  all  unlicensed 
excursions  of  fancy,  exquisite,  and  now  ineflfable  must  be  the 
felicity,  springing  from  a  thousand  different  sources,  that 
shall  arise  from  meeting  in  those  blissful  habitations,  the 
friends  who  have  been  most  tenderly  and  affectionately  loved 
upon  earth.  Oh  !  how  is  the  religion  of  our  blessed  Saviour 
adapted  to  the  finest  feelings,  and  fitted  to  cherish  the  no- 
blest sympathies  of  the  human  heart! — Away  with  that  cold 
philosophy,  which,  at  death,  would  devote  our  existence  to 
eternal  oblivion,  and  hopelessly  rend  asunder  those  delight- 
ful unions  which  form  the  dearest  portion  of  ourselves;  the 
chief  joy  of  our  being. — .Tesus!  Saviour!  who  art  the  first 
fruit  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead !  who  art  thyself  the 
resurrection  and  the  life  !  we  adore  and  bless  thee  who  has' 


given  this  consolation  to  suffering  humanity !  What  sublime, 
and  glorious  prospects  does  our  holy  religion  present  to  the 
imagination !  what  blessed  hopes  to  the  heart ! — But  who 
can  speak,  as  they  deserve,  of  those  scenes  of  everlasting 
peace ;  of  those  mansions  illuminated  by  the  eternal  splen- 
dors of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness :  those  bodies  of  light ; 
those  souls  of  fire !  "  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  tath  ear  heard,- 
neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  the 
things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  those  who  love  him." 

OF  THE  FUTURE  AND  ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE 
WICKED. 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  and  of  an  eternal  exis- 
tence beyond  the  grave  relates  to  the  whole  race 'of  man, 
and  embraces  equally  the  righteous,  and  the  wicked.  For, 
as  the  former  shall  rise  to  glory  and  immortality,  the  lattet 
also  shall  be  raised  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt. 
Under  the  Second  Adam  human  nature  recovers  its  immor- 
tality, and  it  is,  under  his  administration,  put  into  a  new 
state  of  trial.  The  whole  doctritie  of  a  future  state,  how- 
ever, and  of  the  manner  of  our  existence  there,  not  being  the 
subject  of  sense,  and  being  eqtirely  beyond  the  range  of  hu- 
man experience,  all  knowledge  concerning  it  must  be  deriv- 
ed solely  from  revelation.  Reason  can  pronounce  nothing 
with  certainty,  on  the  subject.  We  must  take  it  simply  as 
it  is  stated  in  the  word  of  God.     And  here  we  find  the  ever- 


509 

lasting  punishment  of  the  wicked  asserted  in  terms  as  expli- 
cit and  strong  as  the  life,  and  felicity  of  the  pious ;  it  is, 
therefore,  equally  entitled  to  our  assent,  and  most  imperious- 
ly commands  our  belief.     Of  the  unrighteous   it  is  said, 
"  they  shall  be  cast  into  the  lake  that  burneth  with  fire  and 
brimstone;"  and  it  is  added,  "that  the  smoke  of  their  tor- 
ments ascendeth  for  ever  and  ever."     In  the  final  judgment 
of  the  world,  we  are  assured  that  the  Judge  shall  pronounce 
upon  them  this  irrevocable  sentence,  depart  ye  cursed  into 
everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the  Devil  and  his  angels. 
These  are  strong  figurative  expressions  intended  to  convey 
the  certainty,  and  the  fearful  nature  of  the  future  suflferings 
of  guilt ;  fire  being  employed  as  the  hieroglyphic  emblem  of 
extreme  torments  of  body,  or  of  mind  ;  and  their  eternal  du- 
ration is  indicated  in  the  strongest  terms  that  language  can  use. 
Objections  are  brought  against  this  conclusion  so  interesting 
to  human  sympathy,  not  from  scripture,  as  they  ought  to  be, 
if  they  were  well  founded,  but  from  a  pretended  reason,, 
where  reason  is,  and  for  ever  must  be  utterly  silent. 

Eternal  pimishments  are  pronounced  to  be  contrary  to  the 
natural  perfection  of  the  Deity  which  consists  in  universal 
goodness. — It  is  said  to  be  contrary  to  the  design  of  his  mo- 
ral government,  which  is  intended  for  refornaation  rather  than 
punishment ;  and  aims  finally,  at  the  perpetuity  of  happmess 
to  all  virtuous  minds. — In  the  last  place  it  is  strenuously  ar- 
gued, that  eternal  pains  are  disproportioned  to  the  frailty  of 


510 

ofTending  man,  and  to  the  shortness  of  human  life,  in  which 
onlj  offences  can  be  committed. — A  simple  and  verjr  brief 
answer  must  suffice  on  each  of  these  topics ;  for  as  we  are 
most  incompetent  judges  of  the  infinite  counsels  of  the  So- 
vereign Mind,  our  supreme  duty  on  these  high  questions  is 
silence  and  submission. 

1.  When  we  sav  that  the  everlasting  punishment  of  the 
wicked,  is  contrary  to  the  natural  and  essential  perfection  of 
God,  which  consists  in  universal  goodness,  and  the  love  of 
all  being-*-this  plea  being  introduced  on  the  present  occa- 
sion, as  a  defence  of  the  crimes  of  wicked  men  from  the  ri- 
gors of  the  divine  law,  is  treating  the  infinite  benignity  of  Je- 
hovah, as  consisting  merely  in  an  indulgent  regard  to  the 
frailties,  appetites,  and  passions  of  mankind.  These  sins 
must  necessarily  be  the  subjects  of  divine  animadversion ; 
and  the  essential  perfection  of  the  Deity,  which  includes 
justice  in  its  idea,  requires  the  punishment  of  crime,  not  less 
than  his  benignity  embraces  innocence  with  love.  And  each 
in  strict  conformity  with  the  divine  perfection,  infinite  in  its 
nature  and  operations.  Justice  therefore  pursues  crime  with 
punishment,  as  long  as  the  subject  in  which  it  inheres  exists. 
—In  the  next  place,  if  the  essential  perfection  of  the  Deity 
be  affirmed  to  consist  in  goodness,  let  us  inquire  wherein  that 
goodness  consists.  Is  it  not  in  the  love  of  being ;  and,  in 
rational  and  moral  beings,  in  virtue  as  essential  to  their  high- 
est happiness  ?    Every  affection,  the  higher  and  purer  it  is, 


511 

implies  its  contrast.  Opposite  characters  and  qualities,  be- 
come the  objects  of  opposite  purposes  and  feelings,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  love  of  goodness  and  virtue,  must  be  the  ab- 
horrence of  iniquity,  and  crime.  And  these  must  be  as  per- 
manent as  their  subjects  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  ; 
that  is,  they  must  be  eternal. 

2.  When  again,  it  is  affirmed  that  eternal  suffering,  in  any 
part  of  the  works  of  God,  is  contrary  to  the  design  and  end 
of  his  universal  government,  which  is  reformation,  rather 
than  extermination,  or  the  perpetual  pains  of  any  portion  of 
his  creatures. — Who,  then,  is  competent  to  embrace  in  his 
mind  the  boundless  extent  of  the  divine  government ;  its  ob- 
jects, its  ends,  or  the  measures  of  its  administration  ?  Or  how 
shall  a  worm  of  dust  pronounce  on  questions  so  high,  and  ut- 
terly beyond  the  the  ken  of  our  limited  faculties  ?  Take  a  sin- 
gle example  of  the  possible  benefits  which  may  result  to  the 
righteous  in  their  everlasting  career  of  happy  existence, 
from  the  continual  view  of  the  painful  and  unceasing  suffer- 
ings inflicted  upon  hardened  vice.  The  perpetuity  of  their 
virtue  may  be  greatly  assisted,  and  consequently  their  sta- 
bility in  happiness  be  not  a  little  promoted  by  occasional  dis- 
coveries of  the  issue  of  the  most  fortunate  stale  of  sin, 
presented  to  them  as  most  afflictive,  hopeless,  remediless. 
We  have  the  faithful  promise  of  Almighty  God  for  the  cer- 
tain preservation  of  the  redeemed  from  falling.  But  surely 
this  stability  in  virtue  and  happiness  is  not  the  result  of  any 


&1^ 

physical  necessity  of  nature.  It  must  be  effected  by  prac- 
tical motives  adapted^  to  the  rational  and  moral  principles  of  a 
Tirtuous  and  holy  mind ;  in  the  everlasting  career  of  sanctifi- 
cation  and  blessedness  ;  the  saints  in  glory  will  be  moved,  ex- 
cited, restrained,  or  stimulated  by  the  same  principles,  and 
motives,  but  highly  exalted,  and  improved,  which  govern 
the  most  holy  souls  in  the  present  life.  The  final  persever- 
ance of  the  redeemed,  though  most  securely  fixed  in  the 
promise  of  God,  is  for  ever  influenced  by  moral  principles, 
and  motives.  Who  then  can  say  that,  in  the  universal  gov- 
ernment of  God,  this  awful  and  eternal  example  of  suffering 
may  not  be  useful,  or  even  necessary  to  subserve  the  ends  of 
his  infinite  vcisdom?  But  as  this  is  a  subject  on  which  rea- 
son cannot  pronounce,  being  lost  in  the  infinitude  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  of  the  divine  nature,  it  ceases  to  instruct,  and  re= 
fers  us  to  the  simple  declarations  of  the  word  of  God.  Here 
must  we  rest,  assured  that  as  the  righteous  are  received 
into  life  eternal,  so  the  wicked  shall  go  away  into  ever- 
lasting funishment. 

The  enemies  of  this  doctrine,  in  the  last  place,  rely,  for 
the  support  of  their  opinion,  on  the  frailty  of  human  nature, 
which  cannot  with  justice,  they  say,  be  subjected  to  eternal 
sufferings  :  and  to  the  shortness  of  human  life,  which  cannot 
have  formed  inveterate  habits,  or  contracted  a  degree  of 
guilt  in  any  proportion  to  such  pains.  I  reply,  that  these 
awful  denunciations  affecting  our  future  existence,  are  not 


513 

made  against  the  errorB  merely  of  frailly,  but  against  obsti- 
nate and  determined  guilt,  shewn,  since  the  annunciation  of 
a  Saviour,  by  the  rejection  of  his  grace.  If  the  sins  of  man- 
kind are  the  offences  of  a  frail  and  feeble  nature,  their  sufFer- 
higs  will,  undoubtedly,  be  proportioned  to  the  imbecility  of 
the  offender ;  but  their  sinfulness,  inhering  in  their  nature  it- 
self, their  guilt  must  co-exist  with  their  being ;  and  its  pen- 
alties, of  consequence  have  the  same  duration. — To  the  se- 
cond part  of  this  objection,  respecting  the  shortness  of  life, 
it  is  reasonable  to  reply,  that  eternity  has  no  reference  to 
the  length  of  this  probatory  state,  but  to  the  inherent  virtue 
or  vice  of  the  subject  of  trial ;  for,  if  it  were  protracted  ten 
thousand  times,  it  could  not  bear  the  smallest  proportion  to 
our  interminable  existence.  The  wisdom  of  God  has  adapt- 
ed the  continuance  of  life,  together  with  all  its  means  of  in- 
struction, and  grace,  to  our  moral  culture,  and  preparation 
for  our  eternal  being ;  if,  then,  they  fail  of  their  proper  object, 
the  cultivation  of  our  nature,  and  the  sinner  continues  in  his 
course  of  impiety,  it  can  only  be  ascribed  to  the  perversity 
of  his  nature,  which,  having  exhausted  the  day  of  grace  and 
mercy,  leaves  him  thereafter,  only  to  suffer  the  righteous 
retributions  of  eternity.  Of  these  the  duration  must  be  ex- 
clusively learned  from  the  written  word.  No  reason  can  be 
assigned  for  the  cessation  of  future  punishment,  unless  it  could 
be  shewn,  contrary  to  all  probability,  that  the  actual  inflic- 
tion of  extreme  pains  would  produce  a  reformation  which  the 

apprehension  of  them,  aided  by  all  the  means  of  grace,  iin- 

65 


514 

der  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  powerful  assia- 
tances  of  future  hopes  and  fears,  had  been  unable  to  effect* 
The  great  and  learned  Origen  believed  that  the  actual  en- 
durance of  punishment  in  the  next  life,  will  produce  moral 
effects  to  which  the  apprehensions  of  it  only  in  the  present 
state,  had  been  insufficient,  and  that  it  might  terminate,  af- 
ter a  long  course  of  ages,  in  the  reformation  of  the  most 
abandoned  sinner.  But,  says  the  equally  learned,  and  eminent 
bishop  Horsley ;  "  the  principle  that  the  effect  is  possible, 
that  the  heart  may  be  reclaimed  by  force,  is,  at  best,  preca- 
rious, and  the  only  safe  principle  of  human  conduct  is  the 
belief  that  unrepented  sin  will  suffer  endless  punishment 
hereafter." 

In  the  conclusion  of  this  interesting  subject,  let  me  ask  of 
the  professed  disciples  of  our  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour; 
have  you,  through  Christ,  the  assured  hope  of  thus  glo- 
riously rising  to  immortal  life  ?  Let  it  prove  to  you  the  most 
powerful  motive  to  cultivate  in  your  hearts  those  affections  of 
piety,  and  in  your  lives  those  habits  of  holiness,  which  will 
prepare  you  for  your  eternal  being  in  the  heavens. — By  tem- 
perance, by  purity,  by  the  exercise  of  virtue,  endeavour 
more  and  more  to  assimilate  these  perishing  bodies,  to  that 
pure  and  celestial  nature  in  which  you  shall  hereafter  behold 
the  glory  of  God.  Remember  that  the  hope  of  rising  again 
to  everlasting  life,  strips  death  of  its  greatest  terrors.  Death 
is  no  longer  what  it  appears  to  be,  the  destruction  of  our  be- 


515 

iiig.  It  yelds  to  Ihe  grave  only  the  grosser  parts  of  these 
mortal  bodies.  The  temporary  dissolution  of  the  body,  and 
the  soul  causes  no  intermission  in  the  consciousness  of  hap- 
py existence.  Even  if  the  soul  itself,  according  to  the  opin- 
ion of  some  good  men,  should  sleep  till  the  revivification  of 
universal  nature,  there  is  no  perception  of  time  in  the  insen- 
sibility of  this  mortal  sleep.  The  moment  of  dissolution 
touches  upon  the  moment  of  our  restoration  to  life.  The 
grave,  sanctified  by  the  death,  and  triumphed  over  by  the 
resurrection  of  our  blessed  Saviour,  is  made  to  all  his  disciples 
only  the  gate  to  a  new,  a  glorious,  and  immortal  existence. 
"  This  corruptible  shall  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal 
shall  put  on  immortality.  O  death!  where  is  thy  sting? 
O  grave!  where  is  thy  victory?  The  sting  of  death  is  sinj 
but  thanks  be  to  God  who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  Je- 
sus Christ  our  Lord!" 


THE 

CONNEXION  OF  PRINCIPLE  WITH  PRACTICE, 

OB 

THE  DUTY  OF  MAINTAINING  SOUND  AND  EVANGELIC 
PRINCIPLES    IN  THE  CHURCH. 


A  SERMON, 


PREACHED  AT  THE  OPENING  OF  THE  GENERAL    ASSEMBLY  OF    THE 
PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  J  IN  THE  YEAR  1808. 


i? 


A  SEBMON, 

PREACHED    AT  THE   OPENING  OP  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY 
OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH;    IN  THE  TEAR  1808. 


Epistle  of  Jtidc,  3d   verse, — That  you  should  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints. 


L  HE  physical  order  of  things  is  evidently  intended  by  tlie 
Creator  to  be  subservient  to  the  benefit  of  the  moral  world. 
And  divine  wisdom  itself,  in  the  arrangements  of  nature,  and 
the  disposition  of  providence,  seems  to  be  employed  su- 
premely in  promoting  the  ends  of  divine  goodness.  In  con- 
formity with  this  order  established  in  the  universal  system, 
God  has  connected  the  knowledge  of  truth,  with  the  prac- 
tice of  duty,  and  the  duties  with  the  happiness  of  human  na- 
ture. The  connexion  of  truth  with  practical  utility,  is  ac- 
knowledged universally  in  science.  In  religion  alone  it  has 
been  doubted,  or  denied,  so  far  as  to  become  even  a  fashion- 
able maxim, — that  it  is  of  little  importance  to  piety,  or  virtue, 
what  opinions,  upon  these  subjects,  are  maintained  by  man- 
kind, provided  their  conduct  in  society  be  peaceable  and 
honest.  There  are  natural  sentiments  of  right  and  wrong  im- 
planted in  the  human  breast ;  and,  to  M'halever  errors  in  spe-- 
culation  the  weakness  of  reason,  or  the  prejudices  of  educa- 
tion, may  have  given  birth,  the  moral  mstincts  of  our  nature.. 


520 

it  is  presumed,  in  all  ordinary  cases,  will  correct  their  prac- 
tical evils.  Hence  has  resulted  an  unhappj  indifference  to 
religious  truth  in  those  who  embrace  this  maxim  ;  and,  with 
it,  an  indifference  to  ail  the  institutions  of  religion. 

The  apostle  Jude,  in  this  epistle,  apparently  from  a  deep 
conviction,  that  erroneous  principles  in  morals,  are  ever  pro- 
portionally connected  with  a  lax  virtue,  condemns  in  a  fer- 
vent and  indignant  style,  the  efforts  which  were  made,  in  that 
early  age,  to  corrupt  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  In  opposition  to  the  insidious  arts  of  these  pre- 
tended disciples,  who  studied  to  turn  the  grace  of  God  into 
lascivionsnesSj  he  exhorts  his  christian  brethren  to  contend 
earnestly  for  the  faith,  zealously  to  maintain  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Christ,  which  alone  is  able  to  redeem  men  from  all  ini- 
quity, and  make  them  wise  to  eternal  life. 

This  injunction  of  the  sacred  writer  rests  for  its  foundation 
on  the  inseparable  union  between  sound  principles  in  religion 
and  morals,  and  a  pure  and  virtuous  tenor  of  life.  It  strong- 
ly implies,  therefore,  that  every  real  christian,  and  especially 
that  every  minister  of  Christ,  is  under  sacred  and  indispensable 
obligations  to  search  for  the  truth  in  religion,  with  faithfulness, 
to  embrace  it  with  sincerity,  to  maintain  it  with  firmness,  and 
to  promote  it  with  zeal. 


521 

If,  indeed,  evangelic  truth  had  no  peculiar  relation  to 
sanctity  of  life,  but  any  principles  were  equal  to  the  ends  ofi 
religion,  the  knowledge  of  it  would  not  merit  either  the 
labor  bestowed  on  its  acquisition,  or  the  praise  ascribed  to 
its  possession ;  Christianity  itself  would  be  deprived  of  its 
chief  glory ;  and  it  would  be  indifferent  to  every  purpose  of 
piety,  or  virtue,  whether  we  were  christians  or  pagans,  be^ 
fievers  or  infidels. 

In  the  following  discourse,  I  purpose,  under  the  divine 
blessing, 

I.  In  the  first  place,  to  illustrate  the  connexion  that  exists 
between  duty,  and  evangelic  truth ;  or  generally  between 
principles  and  conduct. 

II.  And  in  the  next  place,  to  urge  the  exhortation  of  the 
apostle,  to  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith,  the  fountain,  and 
comprehensive  sum  of  all  good  principles  in  religion. 

I.  Permit  me,  then,  in  the  first  place,  to  illustrate  the  con- 
nexion that  exists  between  duty,  and  evangelic  truth,  and  in 
general,  between  principles  and  conduct. 

As  the  great  springs  of  human  action  lie  in  the  passions 

and  appetites,  the  desires  and  wants  of  men,  so  the  control 

qnd  direction  of  these  springs  is  to  be  found  only  in  an  urt- 

66 


522 

deistanding,  and  a  conscience  enlightened  by  divine  trufth. 
And  it  is  a  fact  confirmed  by  the  general  experience  of  the 
church  that,  if  the  mind  be  early  imbued  with  the  principles 
of  piety  and  virtue,  cultivated  under  a  regular  and  prudent 
discipline,  it  usually  ripens  into  a  fixed  and  steady  character 
of  virtue,  and  by  the  co-operation  of  the  Spirit  of  divine 
grace,  into  habits  of  sincere  ajid  rational  piety.  On  the  oth- 
er hand,  if  youth,  at  this  early  and  forming  period  of  life,  are 
suffered  to  grow  up  without  moral  culture,  and  left  to  form 
their  principles  under  the  influence  of  vicious  companions, 
among  whom  they  are  taught  to  vindicate  the  indulgence  of 
the  passions,  by  the  corrupt  maxims  of  the  world,  there  is 
hardly  any  point  of  profligacy  in  their  manners,  at  which  we 
should  be  surprized  eventually  to  see  them  arrive.  The  sys- 
tem of  truth,  indeed,  and  the  law  of  duty,  have  the  same 
common  source  in  the  perfections  and  the  will  of  God.  The 
more  perfectly  therefore  we  can  separate  it  from  every  im- 
pure mixture,  the  more  powerful  are  the  motives  which  we 
enjoy  to  universal  holiness  of  living. 

On  the  other  hand,  is  it  not  one  of  the  plainest,  and  most 
obvious  conclusions  of  reason,  that,  if  men  embrace  princi- 
ples which  favour  the  passions,  and  remove  from  the  mind 
the  restraints  of  religion ;  if  they  deny,  for  example,  the  ex- 
istence, or  the  providence  of  Almighty  God ;  if  they  frame 
false,  or  imperfect  conceptions  of  the  divine  attributes ;  if 
they  invent  maxims  which,  in  a  state  of  dissolute  manners  is 


523 

alvrays  done,  to  palliate  insincerity,  fraud,  intemperance,  ojr 
lust,  the  ties  of  moral  obligation  are  thereby  necessarily  re- 
laxed T  Could  yon,  on  great  and  critical  occasions,  rely  on 
the  integrity  of  a  man  who  should  avow  such  principles  ? 
Would  you  be  willing  to  entrust  to  him  the  honor  and  virtue 
of  your  families,  where  he  could  violate  them  with  secrecy, 
or  with  impunity  ?  Would  not  his  passions,  his  interests,  his 
pleasures  be  thenceforward  the  supreme  law  of  his  conduct? 

But  does  not  dissolution  of  manners  frequently  precede, 
and  itself  become  the  cause  of  the  general  corruption  of 
principle,  in  individuals,  and  in  nations  ?  It  does. — And  this 
fact  places  the  truth  of  the  proposition  which  I  have  assum- 
ed to  illustrate,  in  a  new  light.  For  so  powerful  is  the  force 
of  truth  upon  the  heart,  that  men  cannot  preserve  the  peace 
of  their  own  bosoms,  amidst  the  conflict  of  their  principles, 
with  their  actions.  They  are  obliged,  therefore,  if  they  do 
not  reject  the  law  of  Christ,  to  set  themselves  to  corrupt  and 
modify  it  if  possible,  to  the  standard  of  their  inclinations.  If 
the  law  of  Christ  has  not  been  able  effectually  to  constrain 
their  obedience,  they  must  shut  their  eyes  against  its  ligbtj 
or  study,  by  every  subtil  artilice,  to  pervert  its  spirit. 

The  efficacy  of  divine  truth  early  instilled  into  the  raindj 
and  received  with  a  docile  temper,  is  conspicuous,  to  a  can- 
did observer,  in  the  excellent  fruits  which  commonly  pro- 
ceed frona  a  virtuous  and  pious  education,  conducted  v^Uh 


524 

prudence,  and  persevered  in  with  steady  and  consistent 
wisdom. 

Remark  the  youth  who  have  been  sedulously  and  pru- 
dently instructed  in  the  principles  of  religion :  compare 
their  sobriety,  their  temperance,  their  regular  and  exemplary 
manners,  with  the  character  and  conduct  of  such  as  have 
grown  up,  like  neglected  weeds,  without  culture.  Is  it  not 
usually,  among  these  that  the  church  finds  her  future  sup- 
ports, and  her  future  ornaments  ?  If,  in  the  course  of  life, 
they  should  be  exposed  to  temptations  which  give  too  strong 
an  action  to  their  passions,  how  long  will  their  early  princi- 
ples resist  the  corrupting  current?  How  often  will  con- 
science, roused  by  that  secret  voice  which  they  awaken  in 
the  breast,  recall  them  to  their  duty  ?  Or  when,  for  a  season, 
like  David,  or  the  young  Solomon,  they  have  been  drawn 
aside  from  its  path,  how  often  are  these  secret  monitors,  re- 
covering force,  by  some  interesting  dispensation  of  divine 
providence,  made  the  means  of  bringing  them  back  to  their 
duty,  and  to  God,  with  humiliation  and  repentance  ?  Here 
let  me  notice,  only  to  condemn,  the  injustice  of  a  frequent 
remark,  that  the  most  serious  and  pious  education  is  com- 
monly followed  by  the  greatest  dissolution  of  manners.  So 
far  is  this  from  being  verified  by  the  fact,  that  it  is,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  comparative  rarity  of  the  example,  and  its 
striking  incongruity  with  our  most  reasonable  expectations, 
which  has  occasioned  its  being  so  much  noticed,  in  a  few  in- 


525 

stances,  that  the  frequency  of  the  reproach  has  been  mista= 
ken  for  the  commonness  of  the  effect.  And  the  fact,  where 
it  does  exist,  may  usually  be  traced  to  some  gross  defect  of 
prudence,  or  of  skill,  in  the  conduct  of  their  education. 

I  acknowledge,  indeed,  and  it  is  only  a  confirmation  of  our 
doctrine,  that  those  who  have  finally  broken  through  the  re- 
straints of  a  pious  discipline,  like  those  who  have  burst  the 
bounds  of  modest  and  of  decent  manners,  are  usually  more 
profligate  than  other  sinners ;  harrassed  in  their  evil  courses 
by  their  early  principles,  they  are  often  tempted  to  run  to 
greater  excesses  than  others,  that  they  may,  at  once,  if  pos- 
sible, extinguish  the  distressing  light  of  truth,  and  drown  the 
reproaches  of  their  own  consciences. 

Against  the  preceding  reasonings  an  objection  has  been 
raised  from  two  interesting  facts — one  that  we  not  unfrequent- 
ly  see  men  of  vicious  manners  professing  the  best  principles ; 
another,  that  we  find  good  men  among  all  sects  of  christians. 
True  it  is,  that  orthodox  opinions  in  religion  may  be  osten- 
sibly avowed  by  men  of  very  exceptionable  morals.  They 
may  be  merely  modes  of  speaking  received  by  inherilancCj 
or  adopted  as  the  distinction  of  a  party  ;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  they  have  not  entered  deeply  into  the  convictions  of  rea? 
son,  nor  taken  possession  of  the  sentiments  of  the  heart. 


526 

The  second  fad  I  do  not  deny,  but  rather  rejoice  in  its 
existence,  that  there  are  found  pious  men,  who  are  ornaments 
of  their  holj  profession,  among  all  denominations  of  chris- 
tians.    But  does  this  proA'e  that  there  is  no  distinction  in 
their  moral  effects  between  truth  and  falsehood  ?  or  that  all 
principles  are  equally  favourable,  or  indifferent  to  true  reli- 
gion,  and  sanctity  of  manners?     No,  it  is   an  interesting 
proof,  to  the  benevolent  and   candid  mind,   that  every  de- 
nomination of  christians  embraces,  in  its  system,  an  iaiportant 
portion  of  evangelical  truth.    The  great  and  central  doctrines 
of  our  salvation,  from  which  all  the  practical  principles  of 
piety  and  morals  naturally  radiate,  are  so  clearly  borne  upon 
the  whole  face  of  the  sacred  scriptures,  that  they  are  receiv- 
ed under  one  form  of  expression,  or  another,  in  the  symbols, 
confessions,  and  creeds  of  almost  all  who  assume  to  wear  the 
name  of  christian.     Yet,  along  with  them,  the  frailty  of  the 
human  understanding,  or  some  latent  bias  of  the  human  heart, 
has  frequently  mingled  more  or  less  of  error,  which  propor- 
tionally impairs  their  sanctifying  influence.     As  every  truth 
is  connected  with  some  right  disposition  of  the  heart,  and 
contributes  to  promote  it ;  so  every  error,  in  a  similar  de- 
gree, tends  to  strengthen  some  sinful  propensity,  or  to  weak- 
en the  obligation  of  some  duty.     Hence  particular  sections 
of  the  church,  according  to  the  purity  and  extent  in  which 
they  embrace  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ,  are  distinguished 
above  others,  for  the  general  sanctity  of  their  manners  ;  for 
a  zeal  in  religion,  at  once  rational  and  fervent ;  and  for  the 


52r 

numbers  who  adorn,  by  their  practice,  the  doctrine  of  God 
their  Saviour.  But,  among  the  truly  pious  of  all  denomina- 
tions, there  is  a  greater  harmony  of  sentiment,  and  of  faith, 
than  they  themselves,  in  the  jealousy  of  party,  in  the  pride 
of  disputation,  and  even  in  the  delicate  apprehensions  for  the 
truth,  which  some  good  men,  who  have  moulded  all  their 
feelings  in  religion  to  certain  set  forms  of  words,  are  willing  to 
allow.     In  terms  they  differ  more  than  in  spirit. 

Unhappily,  indeed,  there  are  in  our  age,  as  there  were 
in  the  age  of  the  apostles,  those  who  wear,  and  who  glo' 
ry  in  the  christian  name,  who  yet  remove  the  basis  of 
Christianity,  by  denying  the  only  Lord  God,  even  our 
liord  Jesus  Christ.  But  as  then  they  were,  they  slill 
are,  known  by  the  coldness  of  their  piety,  and  the  lax- 
ness  of  their  moral  system.  Spots  are  they  in  the  church, 
in  which  should  exist  only  the  continual  feas<t  of  christian 
love  ;  unfructifying  clouds  witJiout  rain,  borne  about  by  the 
winds  of  human  passions.  It  would  be  more  honour  to  the 
cause  of  Christ,  or  rather  less  dishonour,  if  they  would  re- 
nounce the  name  which  they  abuse. 

Having  thus  far  endeavoured  to  illustrate  the  connexion 
between  truth  and  duty ;  that  is,  between  faith,  or  the  genU' 
ine  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  holiness  of  living— 


528 

II.  I  proceed,  more  directly,  to  urge  the  exhortation  of  the 
apostle,  to  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith,  the  fountain  and 
the  sum  of  all  good  principles  in  religion. 

If  moral  truth  were  of  no  importance,  or  if  it  were  not  es- 
sentially connected  with  our  duty,  with  our  salvation,  and 
with  the  best  interests  of  human  nature,  this  exhortation 
would  be  without  reason.  But  related  as  they  are  by  the 
immutable  constitution  of  heaven,  this  union  imposes  on  us 
inviolable  obligations,  to  seek  for  the  truth  in  religion  with 
fidelity,  to  maintain  it  with  firmness,  and  to  promote  it  with 
zeal.  The  duty  is  incumbent  on  every  christian,  in  propor- 
tion to  his  means  of  information,  and  his  opportunities  of  do- 
ing good.  It  is,  above  all,  incumbent  on  the  church  as  a 
community,  the  depositary  of  the  oracles  of  the  living  God ; 
and  on  those,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  who  are  appointed  to  be 
her  watchmen,  her  instructors,  her  guardians,  and  examples. 

Where,  then,  is  to  be  found  that  precious  truth  which  we 
are  required  to  maintain  in  the  face  of  every  open  enemy,  or 
insidious  friend,  and  earnestly  to  promote  with  a  zeal  worthy 
of  its  high  importance.  In  this,  all  sects  concur  with  one 
voice,  that  the  pure  evangelical  truth  is  to  be  discerned  only 
in  the  holy  scriptures.  But  when  we  attempt  to  collect  it 
from  the  loose  style  of  parable  and  narrative,  in  which  it  is 
frequently  conveyed,  or  to  divest  it  of  that  oratorical,  or  po- 
etic dress  in  which  the  sacred  writers  have  often  clothed  it. 


529 

and  reduce  it  to  plain  and  simple  propositions,  here,  I  con- 
fess, is  some  room  for  uncertainty  and  doubt.  Here  it  is 
that  men  introducing  their  own  speculations,  and  mingling 
their  own  philosophic  systems  with  the  word  of  God,  have 
corrupted  its  simplicity,  and  made  the  christian  church,  like 
the  schools  of  Greece,  a  theatre  for  the  conflict  of  contend- 
ing opinions.  Are  the  divine  scriptures,  then,  of  doubtful  in- 
terpretation ?  Or  do  they  afford  any  ground  for  this  gladia- 
torial play  of  intellect  ?  No,  they  are  full  of  light ;  but  like 
all  the  manifestations  of  the  will  of  God,  in  the  works  both  of 
creation  and  providence,  they  are  liable  to  be  misinterpreted 
by  ignorance,  or  perverted  by  some  dishonesty  of  the  heart, 
or  by  some  mistaken  bias  of  education.  They  are  a  fountain 
of  truth  to  those  who  submit  themselves  with  humility  to  the 
wisdom  of  God,  and  who,  with  genuine  simplicity  of  spirit, 
have  no  other  aim  but  to  discern  in  them  their  own  duty, 
and  no  concern  but  to  understand  the  will  of  their  heavenly 
Father,  in  order  to  obey  it.  If,  with  these  dispositions,  we 
approach  the  study  of  the  holy  scriptures,  although  some  un- 
avoidable errors  should  still  adhere  to  the  frailty  of  the  hu- 
man understanding,  we  cannot  materially  swerve  from  that 
system  of  truth  which,  as  disciples  of  Christ,  we  are  called 
to  defend.  And  in  that  field  of  human  infirmity  in  which  we 
may  be  permitted  to  err,  we  shall  find  ground  for  the  mutual 
exercise  of  charity  with  our  fellow-chrislians. 


er 


53a 

Are,  then,  aH  portions  of  scripture,  all  the  tenets  which 
enter  into  the  body  of  our  creed,  equally  the  objects  of  that 
holj  zeal  required  by  the  apostle  in  defence  of  the  faith  ? 
Every  truth  of  the  gospel  is  precious  to  a  real  believer. 
But  peculiarly  precious  are  those  fundamental  doctrines  on 
which  the  whole  fabric  of  Christianity  rests.  If  I  may  be 
permitted  to  make  this  selection,  they  are  the  doctrines  of 
the  atonement — of  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit — of  the  re- 
generation of  the  heart — of  the  free  grace  of  God  in  the  sal- 
vation of  the  world — of  the  final  judgment — of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body — and  the  life  everlasting.  They  are  to 
him,  in  the  language  of  a  great  reformer,  articuke  staiitis  aut 
cadentis  ecdesicef  articles  by  which  the  church  must  stand 
or  fall. 

To  truth,  a  pure  mind  attaches  itself  with  a  powerful  at- 
traction. It  is  the  image  of  the  divine  wisdom.  It  is  the 
glory  of  God  that  he  is  the  fountain  of  truth.  To  declare 
the  truth  to  the  world  the  Saviour  fcHecame  incarnate.  To 
give  it  efficacy  on  the  hearts  of  men,  the  Holy  Spirit  has 
been  slied  upon  his  church.  The  pursuit  and  discovery  of 
truth,  with  wider  and  still  wider  extent,  will  be  among  the 
most  delightful  employments  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven. 
With  the  progress  of  evangelic  truth  upon  earth,  is  connected 
the  glory  of  God,  the  honour  of  the  Redeemer,  the  highest 
and  best  interests  of  mankind,  objects  peculiarly  dear  to 
every  sincere  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ.     With  fervor,  there- 


531 

fore,  will  he  embrace  it  from  the  heart,  and  with  unceasing 
zeal  will  he  study  to  promote  it. 

A  superior  duty  is  imposed  upon  the  ministers  of  religion 
who  are  appointed  as  watchmen  upon  the  walls  of  Zion,  and 
as  heralds  to  the  world  of  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation. 
They  are  set,  in  the  language  of  the  apostle,  for  the  defence 
of  the  gospel.  Among  their  first  cares,  it  ought  to  be,  as  far 
as  possible,  to  preserve  the  church  from  corruption  of  prin- 
ciple, and  to  cultivate  within  it  that  unity  of  sentiment,  and 
harmony  in  interpreting  the  great  doctrines  of  religion,  so 
necessary  to  the  peace  and  order  of  the  body  of  Christ. 
When  conflicting  doctrines  are  preached  in  the  same  church, 
the  principles  of  the  people  become  unsettled.  To  tempo- 
rary scepticism,  succeeds  indifference  to  truth ;  a  state  of 
mind  not  much  less  dangerous  than  error  itself. 

I  fear  not  to  be  charged  with  illiberality,  though  I  assert 
that,  if  among  those  who  are  otherwise  agreed  in  the  distin- 
guishing doctrines  of  Christianity,  there  are  such  differences 
of  opinion,  even  upon  minor  points,  as  would  disturb  the  har- 
mony of  their  devotions,  let  them  worship  God  in  separate 
communions.  The  existence  of  various  denominations  may 
even  be  attended  with  some  advantages ;  and  where  their 
members  are  found  walking  agreeably  to  the  commandment 
of  Christ,  they  may  embrace  one  another  in  the  spirit  of  chris^ 
tian  charity.     But  anion  in  the  same  body  ought  sacredly  tp 


$3? 

be  pregerved.  Division  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  otb^r 
that  extreme  of  charity,  which  indicates  an  indifference  to 
truth,  are,  in  the  highest  degree,  pernicious.  "  Be  of  one 
mind.  ,  Endeavouf  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit,  in  the  bond 
of  peace.'* 

But  the  injunction  of  the  sacred  writer,  in  this  passage,  \rt\' 
phes  an  obhgation  not  only  to  maintain  the  purity  of  the  faith, 
and,  as  far  as  possible,  its  unity  ;  but  to  defend  it  against 
every  enemy,  and  to  proniote  with  all  our  powers  of  persua* 
eion  and  reason,  its  holy  influence  over  the  hearts  of  men. 

The  humble  and  benevolent  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  al- 
ways obnoxious  to  the  corruptions  of  the  human  heart,  is 
obliged  incessantly  to  combat  with  open,  or  insidious  enemies, 
and  to  meet  them  in  their  ever  new,  and  ever  varying  modes 
of  attack.  It  is  assailed  by  inveterate  foes  from  without,  or 
betrayed  by  false  and  pretended  friends  within  the  bosom  of 
the  church  itself.  In  no  age  have  enemies  more  numerous, 
or  more  subtil,  erected  themselves  against  the  standard  of  the 
cross.  Not,  indeed,  armed  with  power,  and  followed  by 
flames,  as  in  ages  past ;  but  more  to  be  dreaded,  perhaps,  by 
pure  and  undefiled  religion,  they  come  armed  with  all  th§ 
subtihy  of  a  false  and  ostentatious  science,  and  supported  by 
tiie  ajssolution  of  the  public  manners. 


533 

Tbe  prea§  is  often  a  good  criterion  of  the  state  of  the  pub- 
lic morals,  and  the  public  taste.  Look  over  the  lists  gf  new 
p^hlications  in  Europe.,  Examine  the  catalogues  of  those 
writings  which  obtain  the  favour  pf  the  most  numerous  clasus 
of  readers,  both  there,  and  in  our  qwn  country.  What  do 
you  see  in  these  writers  but  continual  incentives  thrown  out 
to.  corrupt  the  imagination,  iind  inflame  the  passions  of  the 
young  ?  What  but  a  Bhamelees  sophistry  designed,  to  eman- 
cipate every  lu3t  of  the  heart  fram  the  remaining  restraints  of 
religion  ?  What  but  continual  efforts  to  undermine  the  foun- 
dations of  the  gospel,  and  boldly  to  tear  down  the  walls  and 
the  ramparts  of  our  christian  Zion  ?  Even  the  fences  of 
natural  religion  are  attempted  to  be  overthrown.  The  ex- 
istence of  God  has  been  called  in  question  by  a  delirious  phi- 
losophy ;  his  providence  over  the  world  has  been  resolved 
into  cputingency,  or  fate  ;  the  apprehensions  of  futurity  have 
been  derided  as  childish  fears  ;  and  human  nature  robbed  pf 
its  most  precious  ireasure  in  the  hopes  of  a  happy  and  immor- 
tal existence,  only  that  religion  may  not  derive  from  them  any 
effectual  control  over  the  consciences  of  men.  All  the  pow- 
ers of  learning,  wit,  and  perverted  genius,  have  been  assem- 
bled against  the  glory  of  the  Saviour.  A  kind  of  traditionary 
respect,  indeed,  is  still  pretended  to  be  paid  to  the  name  of 
virtue :  but  a  name  it  is,  and  nothing  more.  It  does  not  pre- 
vent the  outrage  of  almost  every  duty  which  a  creature  owes 
to  his  Creator.  It  does  not  impede  the  indulgence  of  the 
most  atrocious  passions  under  the  abused  name  of  honour  ; 


534 

nor  the  violation  of  the  most  sacred  ties  of  society,  of  friend- 
ship, of  humanity  under  the  pretence  of  an  innocent  pursuit 
of  pleasure.  A  deluge  of  infidelity  in  the  old  world  is  sweep- 
ing before  it  principles  and  morals,  and  has,  long  since,  be- 
gun to  roll  its  fearful  tide  to  the  new.  Along  with  ancient 
Corruptions  in  government  and  religion,  it  threatens  to  de- 
stroy religion  and  government  themselves ;  and  to  over- 
whelm, in  undtstinguishing  ruin,  whatever  is  rendered  ven- 
erable by  time,  and  sacred  by  its  relations  to  God,  and  the 
felicity  of  human  society.  And  the  new  clouds  which  are 
gathering  in  our  horizon  at  this  moment,  look  dark  and  dis- 
mal. In  this  day  of  trouble,  of  rebuke,  and  blasphemy, 
what  is  the  duly  of  the  watchmen  on  the  walls  of  Zion  ?  Are 
they  not  called  to  increasing  diligence,  to  higher  efforts  of 
faith  and  constancy,  to  more  fervent  zeal,  to  greater  sacrifi- 
ces in  the  cause  of  the  Redeemer,  more  earnestly  than  ever 
to  contend  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints  ?  Truth, 
indeed,  which  is  eternal,  although  it  may  seem,  for  a  season, 
to  be  vanquished  by  the  powers  of  darkness^  will  eventually 
prevail  over  all  the  variable  forms  of  error  ;  but  its  weapons 
require  to  be  wielded  by  skilful,  and  by  honest  hands. 

In  order  to  fulfil  the  requisition  of  the  text,  therefore, 
the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  ought  to  possess,  both  talents, 
which  will  enable  them  to  meet  the  foe  upon  equal  ground  ; 
dLud  fidelity,  which  will  never  shrink  from  any  labor,  or  any 


535 

danger,  which  it  may  be  necessary  to  encounter  in  the  Re- 
deemer's cause. 

Will  it  not  then  be  esteemed  reasonable  to  assert,  that  the 
ministers  of  religion  ought  always  to  stand  in  the  foremost 
ranks  of  literature  and  science  in  their  country.  And  it  is 
a  fact  which  will  hardly  be  disputed,  that,  hitherto,  the 
world  has  owed  more  to  its  religious  orders  for  the  cultivation, 
and  progress  of  letters,  than  to  all  other  classes  of  society. 
This  is  a  general  proposition  which  extends  beyond  the  chris- 
tian church,  to  those  in  every  nation  who  are  supremely  oc- 
cupied in  the  studies  and  concerns  of  religion.  The  Ma- 
gians  and  the  Bramins,  the  priests  of  India  and  of  Persia 
were  the  scholars,  and  instructors  of  those  great  nations. 
The  schools  of  the  prophets  were  the  seminaries  of  litera- 
ture among  the  people  of  Israel.  The  sacerdotal  colleges 
of  Egypt  were  the  schools  of  Greece,  which  afterwards  be- 
came the  school  of  the  universe.  After  the  overthrow  of 
the  Roman  empire  by  the  northern  tribes,  nothing  contrib- 
uted so  much  to  extend  among  those  ignorant  and  rude  bar- 
barians, the  influence  of  Christianity,  and  by  degrees  to  ame- 
liorate their  savage  manners,  as  the  superior  knowledge,  as 
well  as  piety  of  the  great  body  of  the  christian  clergy.  In 
the  churches  and  monasteries,  to  whatever  objections  the 
latter  afterwards  became  liable,  were  preserved  those  sparks 
of  ancient  learning  which  served  to  re-kindle  the  flame  of 
modern  science.     To  the  clergy,  almost  exclnsivdy,  wp 


536 

owe  the  brilliant  resurrection  of  letters  in  the  6ft6enth,  and 
sixteenth  centuries.  And  in  their  hands,  ever  8ince>  han 
been  deservedly  placed  the  direction  of  learning ;  and  with 
them  it  is  likely  to  remain.  Is  this  a  language  which  ought  to 
create  offence  to  any  order  of  men  ?  No ;  it  ought  only  to 
awaken  a  generous  emulation  among  the  real  friends  of  reli- 
gion and  learning  of  all  professions.  And  I  am  willing  td 
urge  this  point  the  farther,  at  present,  for  the  sake  of  so  ma- 
ny young  men  who  are  here  before  you,  with  the  view  of  de- 
voting themselves  to  the  holy  ministry. 

To  them  permit  me  to  say,  that  true  piety  is  first,  and 
above  all  things  necessary  in  a  minister  of  Christ.  But, 
next  to  this,  and  not  much  less  important,  is  sound  science, 
and  general  literature,  that  he  may  be  able  to  confirm  the 
truth,  and  convince  gainsayers,  and  that,  in  delivering  and 
defending  the  gospel,  he  may  be  able  to  bring  from  his 
treasures  things  new  and  old  ;  and  acquire  that  ascendency 
over  the  minds  of  men,  which  acknowledged  virtue,  alumin- 
ous eloquence,  and  extensive  information  alone  can  give. 
That  on  trite  subjects,  he  may  be  always  new.  That,  hav- 
ing fixed  himself  in  the  hearts  of  his  people,  by  faithfulness 
in  every  duty  of  the  pasteral  life,  he  may  take  possession  of 
their  understandings  also,  by  bis  ability  to  teach.  Lamenta- 
ble is  the  falling  off  when  a  young  pastor,  who  has  at  first 
been  well  received,  exhausts  his  little  fund,  in  a  few  of  his 
early  discourses.     The  repetition  of  the  same  truths,  how- 


537 

ever  important,  in  nearly  the  same  language  becomes  insipid 
even  to  a  pious  audience.  To  everj  candidate  for  this  holy 
office,  therefore,  let  me  insist,  that  bis  preparations  for  ap» 
pearing  in  it  with  dignity  and  usefulness,  should  be  neither 
superficial,  nor  hasty ;  and  to  every  ministery  may  I  be  per- 
mitted to  add,  that  his  studies  never  should  ena  but  with 
his  life. 

If  those  who  publish  the  gospel  to  mankind  ought  to  be 
scribes  well  instructed  in  the  law  of  Christ,  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  the  church,  not  less  requisite  is  it  that  they  be  fur- 
nished with  all  the  resources  of  human  science,  iu  order  to 
repel  those  enemies  of  the  faith,  who,  by  an  abuse  of  learn- 
ing, and  a  shameful  misapplication  of  the  talents  which  God 
has  given  them,  are  endeavouring  to  overturn,  to  their  foun- 
dations, his  glorious  city,  and  temple.  The  philosophers 
are  setting  themselves  against  the  ministers  of  religion,  the 
schools  against  the  altars.  But  wielding  as  you  do,  in  this 
spiritual  conflict,  the  mighty  force  of  truth,  your  encour- 
agement is,  that,  you  must  prevail,  if  you  are  not  reproach- 
fully delinquent  to  the  king  of  Zion.  I  am  aware  that  many 
pioas  men  regard  all  considerations  of  this  nature  as  partak- 
ing too  much  of  the  spirit  and  policy  of  the  world.  They 
profess  to  place  all  their  reliance,  not  on  any  human  means, 
but  solely  on  the  omnipotence  of  divine  grace ;  and  strangely 
seek  a  refuge  for  their  own  indolence  in  the  abused  doctrine 

of  the  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     Almighty  God  has  es*^ 

6ft 


538 

iablished,  in  the  constitution  of  nature,  a  certain  connexion 
between  the  means  and  the  end ;  and  never  does  he  depart 
from  this  order,  which  is  his  will,  except  where  the  occasion 
demands  a  miracle.  Shall  we  then  faithlessly  suffer  the 
temple  of  the  Living  God  to  be  leveled  to  the  dust,  by  the 
attacks  of  so  many  insidious  adversaries  as  assail  it  on  every 
side,  while  we  look  on  with  a  lazy  and  indifferent  gaze,  under 
pretence  of  doing  honor  to  the  sovereignty  of  divine  grace  ? 
Or  since  the  church  shall  last  while  the  sun  and  the  moon  en- 
dure, will  not  God  wrest  her  interests  out  of  our  hands,  and 
commit  them  to  hands  more  worthy  to  defend  them  ? 

Will  it  be  said,  what  learning  can  do,  {las  been  done  al- 
ready  ?  That  the  learned  and  pious  divines  of  the  last,  and 
preceding  century  have  furnished  the  church  with  the  ablest 
defences  of  revelation,  with  the  most  admirable  elucidations 
of  the  sacred  writings,  with  the  most  victorious  refutations  of 
the  principles  of  infidelity  ?  It  is  true, — and  the  praise  of 
these  wise  and  holy  men  is  in  all  the  churches.  But  if  we 
have  not  ourselves  skill  and  force  for  the  combat,  how  shall 
we  be  able  to  wield  the  armour  of  Saul  ?  God  most  justly  ex- 
pects, that  we  should  bring  to  the  service  of  his  altar  every 
human  aid,  as  well  as  every  divine  grace.  Be  ye  wise  as 
serpentSf  saith  the  Saviour,  and  harmless  as  doves.  And 
what  doth  the  apostle,  who  possessed  all  the  arts  of  Greece, 
and  all  the  divine  learning  of  Israel,  intend  by  these  injunc- 
tions to  his  son  Timothy  ;  "  Till  I  come,  give  attendance  to 


539 

reading,  to  exhortation,  to  doctrine.  Neglect  not  the  gift 
that  is  in  Ihee.  Meditate  upon  these  things.  Give  thyself 
wholly  to  them,  that  thy  profiting  may  appear  unto  all !"  Can 
the  divine  author  intend,  according  to  the  views  of  some  weak 
and  enthusiastic  sects,  that,  in  devoutly  reading  the  sacred 
writings,  God  imparts  some  extraordinary  influx  of  the  Ho- 
ly Spirit,  to  render  their  meaning  clear ;  thus  making  one  ifli* 
spiration  necessary  originally  to  communicate  the  scriptureg 
to  the  apostles  and  prophets  of  old,  and  another  to  the 
church,  in  the  present  day,  to  enable  it  to  understand  them  ? 
With  prayer  and  pious  meditation,  indeed,  every  christian 
ought  devoutly  to  study  them.  The  more  nearly  we  can 
raise  the  soul  to  the  tone  of  pious  fervor,  and  sublime  devo- 
tion, in  which  the  prophets  and  apostles  composed  their  sa- 
cred hymns,  their  divine  histories,  and  epistles,  the  more  we 
shall  perceive  the  spiritual  beauties  of  the  word  of  God ; 
the  more  clear,  and  impressive  will  its  heavenly  truths  be  to 
the  heart.  But  let  all  who  are  preparing  to  enter  into  this 
holy  office  be  assured  that  there  is  hardly  an  art,  or  branch 
of  knowledge,  in  the  whole  circle  of  science,  or  of  literature, 
from  which  some  useful  illustration  of  the  sacred  writings 
may  not  be  drawn, 

In  earnestly  contending  for  the  faith,  in  the  next  place, 
talents  alone  are  not  sufficient  to  acquit  your  high  and  holy 
duties  to  God  and  the  church.  Fidelity  in  the  discharge  of 
ail  the  functions  of  the  sacred  ministry  is  not  less  necessary. 


640 

That  is,  plainness  and  integrity  in  declaring  the  whole  coun- 
sel of  God,  a  spirit  of  warm  and  unaflfected  devotion,  and  un- 
wearied diligence  in  the  oflBces  of  your  holy  calling,  arising 
from  a  deep  conviction  of  the  value  of  immortal  souls,  and  the 
infinite  importance  of  the  sacred  cause  in  which  you  are  en* 
gaged.  Without  genuine  piety,  and  holy  zeal,  the  labor  of 
preaching  the  gospel  must  be  both  unpleasant  and  unfruit- 
ful. With  what  comfort,  or  effect  can  a  cold,  formal,  or 
worldly  minded  man  preach  the  doctrines  of  repentance,  of 
self-denial,  of  purity  of  heart,  of  sanctity  of  life  ?  But  divine 
truth,  illustrated  with  clearqess,  declared  with  faithfulness, 
and  Rowing  from  a  heart  deeply  affected  with  the  eternal  in- 
terests of  mankind,  possesses  a  majesty  and  force,  that  sub- 
due the  mind,  an  illumination  and  conviction  that  penetrate 
the  soul,  a  tenderness  and  persuasion  that  touch  and  move  all 
the  springs  of  action  in  the  heart.  "It  commends  itself  to 
every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God." 

As  there  is  every  thing  in  the  subject  to  awaken  the  zeal 
of  a  sincere  christian,  and  especially,  of  a  faithful  minister  of 
Jesus  Christ,  in  publishing  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  a 
guilty  world,  and  carrying  the  standard  of  the  cross  through 
the  ranks  of  opposing  enemies,  so  there  is  every  thing  in  the 
circumstances  of  the  present  time,  to  raise  that  zeal  to  an  un- 
usual fervor. — Impiety  has  broken  in  like  a  fleod  upon  the 
nations,  and  is  carrying  before  it,  not  the  young  and  inexpe- 
rienced alone  or  those  who  have  made  it  their  interest,  by 


541 

unholy  living,  to  embrace  the  principles  of  infidelity;  but  we 
see  borne  on  the  tide  philosophers,  legislators,  magistrates, 
those  who  should  be  the  instructors  of  mankind,  who  should 
be  the  guardians  of  the  public  morals,  who,  seated  in  the 
throne  of  the  laws,  should  be  examples  of  virtue  and  obedi- 
ence to  the  people.  It  already  threatens  to  bear  with  it 
the  mass  of  society,  if  Almighty  God,  to  whose  throne  we 
daily  send  our  supplications  to  defend  us  from  this  calamity, 
do  not  interpose  to  arrest  the  overwhelming  flood,  saying  to 
its  rage  "  hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  farther  ;  and  here 
shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed."  From  the  prevalence  of 
corrupted  manners,  I  see  a  fatal  evil  invade  the  church  it- 
self, "  Because  iniquity  abounds  the  love  of  many  waxes 
cold."  The  ivise,  and  even  the  watchmen  on  the  walls  of  Zi- 
on,  seem  to  be  asleep  along  with  the  secure  and  unapprehen- 
sive crowd  offoolish  virgins.  The  present  seems  to  be  the 
reign  of  evil  over  a  great  part  of  the  world  which  calls  itself 
christian.  And  Christ  may  now  say  as  he  did  to  his  perse- 
cutors and  murderers,  "  this  is  your  hour,  and  the  power 
of  darkness." 

If  we  see  the  blessed  gospel  openly  and  almost  triumphant- 
ly insulted  by  powerful  enemies,  is  it  not  also  in  many  parts 
of  the  church,  insidiously  corrupted  by  false  friends  ?  Where 
it  is  still  preached  with  a  degree  of  evangelic  purity,  does  it 
not  seem  to  fall  powerless  from  the  lips  of  those  who  are  ap- 
pointed to  proclaim  its  grace  to  the  world  ?  For  many  years 


542 

we  have  seen  the  columns  of  civil  society,  and  the  temples 
of  religion  falling  together.  We  have  heard  the  horrible 
crash  at  a  distance.  We  have  sometimes  felt  the  earth  trem- 
ble under  our  feet,  to  warn  us  of  our  approaching  danger. 
Roused  for  a  moment,  we  have  only  sunk  down  again  into 
a  sleep  like  the  sleep  of  death. — Can  occasions  more  loudly 
call,  shall  I  say,  on  the  ministers  of  religion  ?  Shall  I  not  say 
on  all  christians  ?  I  was  going  to  say  on  all  good  citizens,  ear- 
nestly to  contend  for  the  faith,  for  the  purity  of  those  prin- 
ciples of  morality  and  piety,  for  the  blessedness  of  those  im- 
mortal hopes,  once  delivered  to  the  saints  ?  To  stem  the  in- 
creasing torrent  of  impiety — to  arrest  the  dissolution  of  the 
public  morals — to  promote  the  designs  of  divine  mercy  to 
mankind — to  recal  the  departing  glory  to  our  churches — to 
exalt  the  grace  of  the  ever  blessed  Redeemer — to  reanimate 
the  almost  extinguished  love  of  his  disciples  to  him,  and  to 
one  another.  My  brethren  in  the  holy  ministry !  who  is 
sufficient  for  these  things?  Although  we  might  justly  trem- 
ble when  we  contemplate  the  weakness  of  the  human  instru- 
ment, be  encouraged,  holy  brethren  !  by  the  example  of  the 
apostle,  who  hath  said  throxigh  Christ  we  can  do  all  things. 

The  political,  the  moral,  and  religious  horizon  looks  dark 
and  gloomy.  The  tempest,  which  has  shaken  half  the  world, 
threatens,  as  we  have  long  foreseen,  to  extend  its  fury  to  us,. 
Yet,  in  the  gathering  cloud,  I  seem  to  see  some  luminous 
Spots  which  invite  us  not  to  despair.    In  every  event,  how- 


543 

eter,  which  may  chequer  the  mysterious  aspect  of  divine 
providence,  one  truth  is  certain,  one  truth  should  console 
you,  ray  dear  brethren,  "  be  you  faithful  unto  death,  and 
you  shall  receive  a  crown  of  life." 

Now  to  the  Father^  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost^ 
be  glory,  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  amd  ever  shall 
be  world  without  end ! — AMEN  I  ^ 


XHE  ESD» 


